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AN* ADDRESS 



FARM PESTS, 



INCLUDING 



INSECTS, FUNGI, AND ANIMALCULES, 



DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF THE 



NEW HAMPSHIRE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



V 

BY 



HIRAM A. CUTTING, A. M., M. D., 

STATE GEOLOGIST OF VERMONT. 



i JUL 11 18t7 

MANCHESTER, N. H.: 
PRINTED BY JOHN B. CLARKE. 

1879. 



e 






PESTS OF THE FARM, 

INCLUDING INSECTS AND MICROSCOPIC FUNGI * 



BY DR. HIRAM A. CUTTING, LUNENBURG, VT. 



INSECT PESTS. 



It seems proper, as an introduction to the study of farm pests, 
that I should say something of the general nature of the objects 
of which I speak. As I first speak of the visible pests called 
insects, I will define them. Perhaps it would seem almost 
superfluous to define the meaning of the word " insect," yet I 
seldom find among the young a perfect understanding of the 
classifications of life as found in the animal kingdom. This 
kingdom is divided into four great classes : — 

1. Animals of all kinds that have back-bones, or " Verte- 
brata," and then again they are subdivided into four classes ; 
viz., mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes. 

2. Animals made up of segments or joints, "Articulata." 
These are again subdivided into — 

" Insects," a term from the Latin that signifies " cut into," 
which expresses that peculiar segmented form. They generally 
have six legs when adult. 

" Arachnida," as spiders, mites, etc., having eight legs. 

* This lecture was illustrated by nearly two hundred colored drawings, two 
by two and one-half feet in size, several of which have been engraved for 
this work. 



" Crustacea," as crabs, lobsters, etc., with from ten to four- 
teen legs. 

" Myriapoda," as thousand-legged worms, or those having 
more than fourteen legs. 

" Annelida," or true worms without legs, as the earth-worm. 

3. Animals with soft bodies, called " Mollusca." These are 
without distinct joints, and have no internal or external skeleton. 

4. Animals that radiate from a central point like stars, 
called " Radiata." 

But we will return to our special class. Insects are further 
known by having their bodies divided into three distinct parts, 
as follows : The head, containing the organs of sense ; the 
thorax, which bears the organs of locomotion ; and the abdomen. 
They also undergo a series of molts or changes, and usually 
exist in four distinct stages, known as the egg ; next as the 
" larva," or masked or hidden form, usually so unlike as not to 
be known by its appearance, though an active stage of its life ; 
then, as the " pupa " or "chrysalis," which is an inactive state ; 
and lastly, as the " imago," or perfect and usually beautiful 
insect. 

T'o sum up, an insect is a thirteen-jointed, six-legged animal, 
divided into three distinct parts, as above described, and may 
be with or without wings ; with an external skeleton, and under- 
going transformations, breathing through little breathing-holes 
in its sides, known as " spiracles," which lead to air tubes, 
answering to our lungs, and known as trachea. 

This short explanation shows how we may best prepare our- 
selves to fight this common enemy. If we can in any way stop 
their breath, by dust or any viscid substance that stops the 
spiracles by filling them, we drown them as we would drown in 
water. With many, this method is very effective, as breath is 
much more necessary than food. In fact, to the adult insect 
food is not always necessary, while breath ever is. 

But our insect is further classified : — 

I. " Hymenoptera," meaning clear or membrane winged, as 
flies, bees, etc. Some insects of this order have mouths fitted 
for biting and sucking, with a complex structure, as the honey- 
bee. 



2. " Coleoptera," meaning sheathed or covered wings. 
These are known as beetles, and go through a complete trans- 
formation. The " Colorado potato-bug " is a beetle of this 
class. 

3. " Lepidoptera," meaning scale wings, or wings with 
microscopic plumage, as butterflies and moths ; transformations 
also complete. 

4. " Hemiptera," or half-winged. The insects of this order 
are known as bugs. Some have no wings, or only rudimentary 
ones, while others are winged and feed upon plants only. 

5. " Diptera,'' meaning twice-winged or two-winged. This 
order is very troublesome to man, and is found everywhere upon 
the earth's surface where inhabitable ; the mosquito, gnat, 
wheat-midge, cabbage-maggot, onion-maggot, etc., belonging to 
this order. 

6. " Orthoptera," or straight wings, meaning straight-winged 
insects, including grasshoppers, locusts, etc. 

7. " Neuroptera," or nerved-winged insects, their wings 
resembling net-work, as the dragon-fly. 

Many of this order are beneficial, and few really injurious, to 
man. 

The time was when any person that attempted the study of 
the insect world was derided and laughed at ; the derisive term 
of " bug-hunter " was applied to him, and every person suffposed 
that to run after and catch bugs was the insane idea in his life. 

More than a century ago, the Swedish authorities became 
greatly alarmed at the fearful destruction of the timber in their 
dock-yards by a minute boring-beetle. They at length applied 
to that renowned " bug-hunter," Linnaeus. He told them that 
the perfect beetle, that laid the eggs for the borer, only appeared 
in the month of May, and if they would submerge their timber 
that month, they would be free from its ravages. The govern- 
ment did this, and by this simple and inexpensive method saved 
their timber, and at the same time brought the " bug-hunter " 
into respect as an entomologist, a term from the Greek, mean- 
ing " one who discourses upon insects," or treats of them and 
their habits. 

In Prussia and Germany the rudiments of entomology are 



6 

taught in their common schools, and I would ask if, in a country 
where the damage from insects is variously estimated from one 
hundred million to one billion of dollars per annum, and the 
extermination of insect pests becomes almost imperative, it is 
not worth while for us to look about us for the necessary 
information to intelligently fight our foes ? 

In a letter before me, 1 am asked, " What is science good 
for, if scientific men are baffled by one little insect which they 
cannot devise means to exterminate ? " 

Science is not baffled, but, like Hercules in the old fable of 
the Wagoner, can help you and will help you, only when you 
help yourselves. I may now hear you ask, How may we help 
ourselves? or. How can New Hampshire alone help herself? 
We may safely calculate that the insect ravages in New Hamp- 
shire for one year will exceed three millions of dollars. Now is 
it too much to say that a concerted action on the part of all 
agriculturists would decrease this damage one-half ? Did 
science have full control of our legislatures, law would require 
and enforce the necessary concert of action ; and while agricul- 
turists would groan under imaginary tyranny, they would reap 
the reward. As agriculturists control the legislature, ought 
they not to take their best interests under consideration, and 
do something for themselves ? 

Concerted action is the only way to combat insect foes, and 
the law must protect this concerted action from the thriftless 
ignoramus that don't care for himself or neighbors. The fact 
is, that the ravages of hostile insects represent a condition of 
war, and it is only by organization, and appropriate weapons, 
that they can be conquered. The proper subjects for considera- 
tion are the materials to be used, and the best time to make the 
attack in force, and the weapons to be employed. It is entirely 
useless for us to fold our arms and exclaim, " It is the will of 
God ! " 

It is to lead the farmer to realize his position, and to show 
him how easy it is to study natural history for his personal 
benefit, that I presume to stand before you to-night. I will first ' 
introduce to you the ten-lined pctato-beetle. 




TEN-LINED POTATO-BEETLE,— COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE. 

Doryphora Decemlineata. Say. 

a, a, eggs ; b, b, b, larvae of different ages ; c, pupa ; d, perfect insect ; e, right wing-cover 
enlarged ; J", leg enlarged. 

This bug, SO called, is, strictly speaking, a beetle, and is 
known to naturalists under the name of Doryphora decemlineata. 
It was first described by Thomas Say, who was then with Long's 
exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains. The specimens 
from which his description was written, were collected in the 
region of the upper Missouri, and it was found there quite 
common. Its food in its native place was the wild potato, so 
common to this mountainous region. 

As civilization advanced toward this far western section, 
carrying the cultivated potato within its reach, this insect 
acquired the habit of feeding upon it; it even seems to thrive 
upon the cultivated potato better than upon the wild ones, and, 
as a result, its numbers vastly increased. In 1859, it had spread 
eastward to a point one hundred miles west of Omaha city, in 
Nebraska. Prof. Riley says that in 186 1 it had invaded Iowa, 
and during the next four years it had reached the Mississippi 
River. In 1864 and 1865, it crossed that river, invading Illinois, 
from which time it has gradually but surely spread over all the 
Middle and Northern States. 



8 

The first account of its destructive propensities waspublislied 
in the Prairie Farmer for August 27, 1861. From this time un- 
til the present, frequent reports and descriptions have been pub- 
lished. 

In 1874, it was found upon the sea-coast in New Jersey, but it 
was in 1876 that the advance guard invaded New England. 

Like other higher species of the Coleoptera, it passes through 
a complete metamorphosis, but, unlike many other beetles, it 
confines itself during its entire life to the same species of vege- 
tation, and, unhappily, selects as its first choice the potato. 
This beetle, however, is not, like many of our pests, an importa- 
tion, but an original native, of the Far West. Its name would 
indicate Colorado as its birthplace, but historical facts, as I 
have before stated, would indicate upper Missouri. Yet Prof. 
Riley thinks it also existed in Colorado. It, however, seems 
true that this beetle committed severe depredations in Nebraska 
and Kansas before it was ever seen by the farmers of Colorado, 
and when it infested that section the people there considered it 
of eastern origin ; but its exact birthplace does not matter. 

That it is a great lover of the potato-plant is certain ; yet it 
can exist upon other food when potatoes fail, but first selects 
the tomato and other plants nearly allied in properties to the 
potato-leaf ; but such plants are seldom attacked until the po- 
tato-fields are fully devastated. The eggs of this beetle are 
deposited, to the number of seven or eight hundred, by each 
female, at intervals during from twenty-five to forty-seven days, 
on the leaves of the potato, in regularly arranged clusters of 
from twenty to sixty eggs each. They are of an orange color, 
and always on the under side of the leaf. In a week after they 
are deposited they hatch into larvae, which feed upon the foliage 
about two weeks, though some fix the period at seventeen days. 
When full grown they descend to the ground, where they change 
into a pupa state near the surface. The perfect beetle appears 
in a little less than two weeks, pairs when about one week old, and 
a week later commences the deposit of eggs, as before described. 
From two to four broods may be hatched in a season. The 
statements of the time are, however, liable to vary, being longer 
or shorter, according as the weather is more or less favorable to 
their development. 



9 

The mature beetle, as its name indicates, has ten lines of 
black lengthwise of its wing-covers, five on each side, the 
ground being a medium yellow. It has several black spots upon 
its head and thorax, also six legs, and pink gauze wings under 
the striped wing-covers. It passes the winter in the perfect 
beetle state, burrowing in the ground beneath the frost, coming 
out in the spring, just in season to lay its eggs on the young 
potato-plant. 

The statement is sometimes made that the mature beetle does 
not feed, and that they infest the potatoes as soon as they break 
through the ground to lay eggs only. This is untrue. The bee- 
tles do feed, not as ravenously as the larvae, but coming upon 
the young plant just as it breaks ground, it has little to eat to 
spoil the crop, and if in abundance it will certainly do so, as the 
crop of larvae from the eggs come on so soon that what they 
leave is at once appropriated by them. It is at this stage of the 
crop that the farmer needs to be on the alert ; though more 
numerous later in the season, when the tops are mature, they 
do very little damage. 

Bad as these beetles are, they are not as bad as popular opin- 
ion makes them. Their first onset is the most severe, and farm- 
ers accustomed to give up to imaginary evils will talk about the 
extermination of the potato. Of that there is no danger from 
this cause. In Iowa, in 1870, the beetles were very abundant, 
so much so that they swarmed over barns and outhouses, and 
also entered dwellings so that you could hardly sit down or walk 
without crushing them ; yet the crop of potatoes was the largest 
ever known, and they were retailed in the streets for twenty-five 
cents per bushel. This abundant crop w^as raised by every one 
planting in anticipation of high prices, thus bringing the opposite 
result. 

By some this beetle is considered poisonous, but from no just 
cause, as it can be picked from the potatoes day after day, by 
whole families, with no bad results. Large quantities of them 
in a state of putrefaction, like all other animal matter, are disa- 
greeable, and doubtless unhealthy, and they should never be 
left to putrefy, but be burned or destroyed with boiling water 
and then buried. As they are voracious feeders, they may be 



10 



killed with poison like Paris green, mixed with flour, and dusted 
on the potato-leaves. A much better way is to brush them off 
into a tin "catcher," made on purpose, to encircle half the hill. 
We have much in New England to favor us in our persecution 
of this pest, by way of its natural enemies. 




F'B- 5- 



Fig. 6. 
ENEMIES OF THE POTATO-BEETLE. 

The lady-birds, — Coccinella (^-notata and pupa (Fig. 2), Hip- 
podamia lypunciata, larva and pupa (Fig. 3), — destroy multi- 
tudes. 

The eggs of the lady-birds are very much like those of the 
potato-beetle in color, but are smaller, and not so many in a 
cluster, but always laid in close proximity to those of some other 
insect. As soon as they hatch they commence their war of 
extermination, and, as they are voracious feeders, they follow 
it up almost unceasingly. This lady-bird is about two-thirds 
the size of the potato-beetle when fully grown, of a yellowish 
red color, with two or more black markings on each wing-cover, 



11 

being shorter and more thick-set than the potato-beetle. In fine, 
they are about the size and the shape of a half pea. (See Figs. 
2 and 3.) There are several varieties, but all are the friends of 
the farmer, and should have special protection. 

So of the many-banded robber, Harpactor cindus (Fabr.) 
(Fig. 4). It is ever actively on the lookout for food, and woe 
to the potato-beetle that falls into its sharp claws. 

So of the spined soldier-bug, Anfia spinosa (Dallas) (Fig. 5 ; 
a, its beak) ; c, the beak of the Enschistus ptmdipes (Say), which 
closely resembles the Arma. Doubtless, both species do a 
great work, as they are wholesale depredators, not alone upon 
the potato-beetles, but upon many farm pests. 

There is also a parasitic fly (Fig. 6), Tachia^ that not only de- 
stroys myriads of the larvae of the potato-beetle, but also those 
of many other pests. The marks at the bottom of the cut denote 
its actual size. 

There is also another deadly foe in the Fhilotithus, which 
Dr. Packard found to creep even into his hatching-cases and 
kill not only enough for food, but all ; just as the weasel or mink 
will kill more chickens than they need for food. This beetle is 
black, with short wing-cases, and is, perhaps, the most terrible 
enemy of the Colorado beetle. It is a member of the family 
StaphylinidcB. 

There are, perhaps, no natural enemies that will entirely kill 
them out, and so, like the farmers at the West, we are inclined 
to Paris green. It is, however, much more dangerous here than 
there. All know it is a deadly poison, and not rendered inert 
by being eaten by the beetles. Showers wash it from our hill- 
sides, together with the dead beetles, into our streams, where it 
kills the fish and doubtless poisons the water, so that cattle are 
more or less injured by it. On level land it can be used with 
much greater safety. If used at all it should be dusted on the 
leaves when wet with dew, while the beetles are in their larval 
state, or mixed with water at the rate of one tablespoonful of the 
green to a pailful of water. When applied dry it is better to mix 
with ten parts of flour, by weight ; and great care should be taken 
not to inhale the dust, as it is very poisonous. When in solu- 
tion it must be almost continually stirred, or the green will sink 



12 

in the bottom of the sprinkler, as it is not soluble in the 
water. 

Prof. Riley, of Missouri, says that quite as good results may 
be obtained in using the ingredients from which green is made 
as from the finished article. The Paris green costs, say thirty- 
seven and one-half cents per pound, and the demand is often so 
great that it cannot be obtained just when wanted, especially in 
back towns. The following directions for making green, from 
Brande's Chemistry, are practical : Dissolve two pounds of sul- 
phate of copper (blue vitriol, costing fifteen cents per pound, or 
thirty cents) in a gallon of hot water, keeping it in a stone jar. 
Dissolve in another large jar, one pound of common white arsenic 
(costing about six cents) and two pounds of saleratus or pearl- 
ash (costing sixteen cents) in forty-four pounds of hot water, 
stirring well till thoroughly dissolved. These articles, costing 
fifty-two cents, will make about five pounds of Paris green, which 
would cost $1.88. 

This can be kept in solution and mixed in proportion of one 
part of the first and five of the last solution, as they are needed. 
The green immediately begins to precipitate in a fine powder, 
and is much more convenient for use in solution than the dry 
article. Prof. Riley says that Paris green can be in this way 
used without danger ; and all agree that in solution, or mixed 
with flour when dry and dusted on, it is the unfailing remedy. 

Dr. Leconte advises the use of large atomizers, for not only 
the destruction of the potato-beetle, but of all insects that can be 
killed by a solution. This idea is worthy of consideration, and 
it may doubtless prove invaluable. 

When this beetle first came among the farmers, all birds, like 
themselves, were suspicious of it, and it has often been reported 
that no bird would touch them. Such is not true. Ducks will de- 
vour them greedily. Turkeys and all fowls soon learn to like 
them for food, and chickens frequently take them in preference to 
any other insects. The crow not only takes the beetles and 
larvae from the vines in great numbers, but late in the season 
digs for the beetles in the ground, and captures thousands of- 
them. The rose-breasted grosbeak and many other birds have 
also a great liking for them. Skunks, toads, and snakes, even, 



10 
O 



prey upon them ; then our winters are more severe than the 
winters West. Jack Frost creeps deeper into the ground, and 
must overtake many of the ten-liners that supposed themselves 
safe from cold. 






Fig. 7. 



Fig. 8. 



Fig. 10. 




Fig. 9. 
THE BLISTERING BEETLES. CantharidcB. 

These beetles are also great eaters of the potato-plant. 
For several years they have done great damage in New England, 
but only in special localities. They have not become general. 
Those most injurious are the striped Cantharis, Lytta vittata 
(Fabr.) (Fig. 7), the margined Cantharis, Cantharis marginata 
(Olivier) (Fig. 8), the ash-colored Cantharis, Zy/Z^z ««(?r(?rt; (Fabr.) 
(Fig. 9, a, male), and the black Cantharis, Lytta marina (Leconte) 
(Fig. (), b) ; c and d show the magnified antennae of the male and 
female, rendering it easy to distinguish them. These beetles, 
while they will make short work of the potato-leaves, when 
abundant, are not very fastidious about their food. They will 
eat beets as soon as potatoes, and also pig-weed, or almost any 
kind of green leaves when the potatoes and beets fail. 

There is another species, being a species of oil-beetle, Meloe 



14 



angusticoHis (Fig. lo), which when plenty are a great foe to po- 
tatoes, tomatoes, beets, and various other vegetables ; but they 
are vulnerable to insect enemies, and so are only now and then 
abundant. They may be killed by Paris green as the potato- 
beetle, but cannot be picked off, as they are too spry for the 
fingers. 




I 



Fig. II. 



Fig. 12. 

STRIPED SQUASH-BEETLE. Diabrothica Vittata. Fahr. 

I. Back view of the grub that eats the root and stalk. 2. Side view ; both magnified. The 
marks show the actual length. Beetle natural size. 

This beetle appears on cucumber and squash vines as soon as 
they are through the ground, and frequently they penetrate 
through the cracks made in the ground by the swelling and 
sprouting of the seeds of melons, cucumbers, or squashes, and, 
biting off the young sprout, destroy the plant before it is out of 
the ground. These beetles need little description. The cut 
shows the beetle in outline, and he is well known by the yellow- 
ish stripes upon his wing-covers. Their subsequent work, also, 
when the leaves appear above the ground, is well understood, 
but the biting off the young sprout, thus preventing the devel- 
opment of leaves, is frequently not known, and the seeds are 
thought to be poor, or other causes are assigned for their non- 
appearance above ground. 

The gardener watches his plants until he thinks them beyond 
danger from this beetle, and then is surprised to see them wilt 



15 

and die without apparent cause. No wound or injury is found 
above ground, and so the destruction is looked for in the root. 
Here we soon discover the true cause of death, for the roots are 
found to be pierced here and there with small holes. In fact so 
many are found, that the root presents a corroded appearance. 
Upon closer examination the authors of the mischief are easily 
detected, either in the root or lurking in the corroded furrows. 
They are little whitish worms, about the length of the lines beside 
the enlarged view of the worms in this figure. 

They are, as found, about the thickness of a good-sized pin. 
The head is blackish, brown and horny, and there is a plate of 
the same color on the last segment of the worm. These are the 
young of the beetle, or " striped bug," which was so troublesome 
on the leaves earlier in the season, and the eggs from which 
they hatched were laid low down on the stalk at that time. In 
this masked stage of worm life they do more damage than when 
in the beetle form on the leaves. When the worms are full 
grown, which is about a month from the time they hatch, they 
forsake the root, and retiring to the earth, by continually turn- 
ing around they form for themselves a little cavity, or minute 
cave, with solid earthy walls, in which they throw off their skin 
and become a pupa. This pupa is much shorter and thicker than 
the worm ; they remain inactive for about two weeks, takino- no 
food. At the end of this time they throw off their skin again 
and the perfect beetle is seen, still however in a soft condition 
incapable of movement. Remaining in its cell till these soft 
parts have acquired solidity and strength, it breaks through the 
walls of its little house, and working itself slowly through the 
soil, appears in the light of day a perfect beetle. We have two 
generations each year, the second remaining in its dormant or 
pupa state through the winter. This generation, doing little 
damage, is not often noticed. Many vines not killed by the 
worm are so much injured that their value is nearly destroyed. 

Covering the vines, with a box covered on top with muslin, has 
been considered the only sure remedy, though powdered char- 
coal, lime, and sometimes ashes can be used with benefit. In 
many cases, however, the material sprinkled on the leaf is as bad 
as the beetle. If a handful of shavings be burned near the hills 



16 

in the evening, many of them will fly into the flames. After 
various experiments I have become satisfied that covering the 
hills with common newspapers is much the best means to be 
used ; besides, you get an accelerated growth of the plants. 
Just as soon as the seeds are planted, or, at any event, a day or 
two before the plants appear, open a newspaper to its full size, 
and spread it over the hill, letting it lie close on the ground, and 
fasten it in place by hoeing the dirt on the edges, so that no gust 
of wind can disturb it. The plants thus covered will grow at least a 
third faster than those not covered, are safe from the beetle^ and, 
what is more, safe from the egg that produces the worm, or 
masked stage of the pest. The plants kept covered until the 
danger is past are more healthy in every way, producing blos- 
soms several days sooner than those not covered. It is seldom 
that once covering will not answer all purposes, but should one 
be torn of? from any cause, it can easily be replaced. I have 
tried different colors of paper, and find white or blue paper best 
adapted to the purpose. Other colors seem to give a pale green 
or sickly appearance to the plants. Newspapers are easily ob- 
tained, and are just as good as clear white paper. It will be 
seen, also, that this is a protection against late frosts, and I be- 
lieve that every person who tries this method of protection will 
ever use it with entire satisfaction. 

TENT-CATERPILLAR OF APPLE-TREES. Clisiocampa Americana. 

Harris. 

What farmer in New Hampshire is not familiar with the web 
nests of this caterpillar, glistening in the rays of the spring sun, 
before the trees are in blossom ? Yes, before the leaves are 
one-half grown, these little white web nests speak volumes. 
They tell of a negligent, slovenly farmer, whose spare hours are 
got rid of as useless time, and the pests of his orchard revel in 
his neglected trees, among which the caterpillar holds conspicu- 
ous place. This small white glistening web, if unmolested, soon 
spreads over several branches, and the caterpillars strip the 
tree of its leaves, to the great damage of it, if not entailing 
death, which is ever liable to occur from this cause alone. 

This caterpillar is well known to all, yet all do not understand 



17 



5wa 





Fig. 14. 



Fig. 13- 



All natural size ; a, larva full grown, side view ; b, larva full grown, back view ; c, cluster 
of eggs on a twig ; d, cocoon. 



its habits. The eggs are laid by a night-flying moth (Fig. 14). 
Its color is a dull, yellowish brown, or something inclined to the 
reddish tint ; it is unusually thick-bodied and hairy. Its wings 
are characterized chiefly by the front wings being divided into 
three nearly equal parts, by two transverse whitish or pale 
yellowish lines, and by the middle space being paler than the 
rest of the wing, in the male, while it is often the same color as 
the rest, or even darker, in the female. 

Riley says the color is very variable in the Western States. 
Dr. Fitch notices great variations, but in this section I do not 
find the variations very great, and think all will readily recog- 
nize the moth from the foregoing description. 

The moth here described lays her eggs in the night, when she 
may be found hovering about the tree, in August, or, in the 



18 

southern part of the State, doubtless in the last part of July. 
She lays her eggs in oval rings, round the smaller twigs, as seen 
in Fig. 13, c. These rings contain some three hundred eggs 
each, and are covered over with a mucilaginous coating which 
answers the double purpose of keeping out the water, and 
serving as food for the young when they hatch, to give them 
sufficient strength to crawl down the limb to the first fork, where, 
by crawling back and forth, they weave from a spinneret in 
their mouths the tent in which they live. From this tent they 
sally forth twice a day for food, eating voraciously. On an 
average, each caterpillar will eat two apple-leaves a day, and no 
tree can long live under such a vital drain. As the weather 
gets warm, when they return from a meal, instead of going into 
their tent, they go to rest upon the outside, as a and b. Those 
coming in later and finding no room, will crawl over the sleepers, 
spinning all the time, until they are covered, and another story 
is added to their tent. 

Thus from time to time it is increased with their growth, 
until their food gives out, or their caterpillar life is spent, when 
they lose their social habits, and wander off to find other food, 
which they are seldom able to do, or find suitable places in 
which to spin their cocoons. These are light-colored, with a 
tinge of yellow, and may generally be found attached horizontally 
to the under side of fence-rails, or other protected places. They 
remain in these about three weeks, when such as have not fallen 
a prey to the ichneumon-fly, as many do, come forth to lay their 
eggs, as before described. The question so often asked is. How 
to destroy them } I will first tell you how you ought not. Some 
flash gunpowder on their nests ; others burn them with a torch ; 
while some put on kerosene and burn ; and others saturate with 
oil to kill them. All these methods are destructive to the trees, 
and should never be employed. Upon a moment's reflection it 
will be seen that the easiest and quickest way is to cut off the 
twig containing the eggs. 

As they are laid in July or August, there is a long period in 
which the farmer may destroy them ; and as they are found upon 
small twigs, near the end of a branch, they can be found with a 
little careful looking, and cut off. After the leaves have fallen, 



19 

on a frosty morning the eggs may be readily seen as a dark 
band on the twigs, as the frost does not so readily adhere ,to 
them. When you cut them off always burn them. If this ■ 
method is neglected, watch your trees when they first hatch, and 
with a stick remove the entire nest early in the morning, or just 
at night, — as they feed, and are consequently scattered over 
the branches, both in the middle of the afternoon and the middle 
of the forenoon, and some stragglers are absent all day. If they 
are still neglected, as they should not be, there is no sure way 
to rid your trees of them but to put on gloves and clean them 
off with your hands. You can kill by crushing, or have an 
attendant with a pail of hot water, and put in such branches as 
you can cut away, or do not crush. Every tent found, whether 
on orchard or forest tree, should be destroyed. 

The black cherry (Cerasus serotina), so common throughout 
the State, is a favorite tree with this caterpillar. If I could 
have my way in the matter, as they are a useless tree, I would 
cut them all down, or else pass a law fining the owner of 
premises where the caterpillars' nests were not destroyed. Con- 
certed action would soon put an end to its ravages ; and the 
thousands of bushels of apples annually destroyed, together 
with damage to trees for the ensuing crop, would well repay the 
amount of time and labor necessary for their extermination. 

Where apple-trees are overrun, it will feed upon the plum, 
thorn, rose, willow, common red-cherry, poplar and white-oak, 
and even sometimes upon witch-hazel and beech trees. But it 
will ever be found in the greatest numbers upon the black- 
cherry and apple trees. 

FOREST TENT-CATERPILLAR. Clisiocampa Sylvatua. Harris. 

This caterpillar (Fig. 15), the representation of which is a 
back view, is often erroneously called the "army-worm," and 
may sometimes be seen in vast numbers, marching along a 
hard road in the hot sun, or crawling in great numbers along 
the railroad track. When closely examined it will be found to 
resemble the apple-tree tent-caterpillar, and is often confounded 
with that also. The following difference, however, will be 
apparent : — 



20 





Fig i6. 



Fig. 15. 
a, eggs; 6, female moth, natural size ; c, enlarged view of egg from top ; d, enlarged view of 

eggs from side. 

The eggs, as may be seen from the above cut, are distin- 
guished from, the common tent-caterpillar by being of uniform 
diameter in the entire mass, which is docked off squarely at the 
ends. They are usually composed of about four hundred eggs, 
the mass being of a creamy white color. These eggs are de- 
posited in circles around the twig, and with each egg is deposited 
a brown varnish ; the second circle is closely fitted into the first, 
so the eggs stand like rows of cells in honey-comb. In this 
section, the eggs are deposited in July, or the first of August, 
the larvje are quite fully formed by the time winter commences,, 
and the warm days of spring bring them into being, even before 
there are any leaves on the trees ; and it is a singular fact in 
their nature, that they may not only be frozen, but they actually 
exist for two or three weeks without food, standing any amount 
of inclement weather, waiting for the leaf-buds to develop into 
leaves, which they then eat with hearty relish. As soon as they 
are born they commence spinning a thread wherever they go, 
yet as the web is beneath them, close to the bark of the tree, it 
is often overlooked. They live more or less in company, like 
the common tent-caterpillar, but go through four successive 
molts before they arrive at maturity, and at such times huddle 
in bunches, remaining for a day or two inactive. At their fourth 



21 

molt, they quite unwittingly court destruction by collecting in 
masses upon the trunks of trees, often within a few feet of the 
ground. After this molt, it may be seen (as before mentioned,) 
wandering about to find a suitable place to form its cocoon. 
Why it wanders in such places, and then takes up with a leaf 
that it can draw together, or several leaves all combined to 
cover it, we can hardly tell. It, however, frequently spins its 
cocoons under fence-rails, boards, or any sheltered protection. 

The cocoon is much like that of the common tent-caterpillar. 
Three days after its completion, the caterpillar again casts its 
skin, and becomes a chrysalis, of a pale reddish brown color, 
dusted all over with a pale powder, and densely clothed with 
short and yellowish hairs. In a couple of weeks more, or 
usually in this State from the first to the tenth of July, the moth 
issues, being of a brownish yellow, and having two oblique 
transverse lines across the front wings. It is quite like the 
moth of the common tent-caterpillar. The most marked differ- 
ence is, that the transverse bands upon the front wings are 
darker in this, and lighter in the other species. 

There is one noticeable fact about this pest ; that is, that for 
several years we see few, if any, of them, and then there is a 
year or two of great plenty. The reason of this is, that our 
insect friends, and we fortunately have many that live upon this 
caterpillar, gain ground upon it, and come near exterminating 
it ; but, with a dearth of food, they die out also, and the cater- 
pillar then gains again, to become a prey to his persecutors. 

By their aid we get along nicely, only now and then a year, 
when we have to kill them to save our trees. If you jar the 
tree or branch upon which they are feeding, they will spin down 
a few inches, and may then be picked off. At their fourth molt, 
they may be killed as they congregate upon the leeward side of 
trees, as before noticed ; but, as they have already eaten up the 
foliage, it is not so necessary to kill them as it was earlier, yet 
always kill them when you can. If you search your trees for 
■eggs in the winter, and destroy them, you will never have much 
trouble. 

When one tree is denuded of foliage the caterpillar travels to 
another and ascends it. This can be prevented by putting tar 



00 



or printers' ink upon a band about the trees not infested, 
cocoons may also be sought for and many killed. 



The 





Fig. 17. 

WEB-WORM. Hyphonirid Textor. HARRIS. 

All natural size. <2, caterpillar; b, chrysalis; c, moth. 

One of the most common and destructive of our insect pests 
is the little caterpillar known by the name of the " fall web- 
worm," or perhaps more commonly as the " web-worm." The 
web of this, which at first look seems an insignificant caterpil- 
lar, frequently, in the months of July and August, covers the 
limbs of many trees — a web enclosing leaves seared and dead,, 
from the ravages of this pest. They are more often seen upon 
elm and apple trees, but other trees are not exempt ; and often, 
towards the end of summer, most of our fruit and shade trees 
show the ominous web enclosing dried leaves. The eggs from 
which these caterpillars proceed, are laid by the parent moth in 
a cluster upon the end leaf of a branch. When these eggs 
hatch, they are generally on the third or fourth leaf from the end 
of the twig, as since the eggs were laid the limbs have usually 
extended their growth to that extent. 

As soon as they hatch they begin to spin. To provide a shel- 
ter for themselves, they cover the top of the leaf with a close 
web, which is the result of their united labors. They feed in 
company beneath this covering, devouring only the upper skin 
and pulpy portions of the leaf, leaving the veins and lower side 
untouched. The leaf withers, and they enlarge their web, tak- 
ing in other leaves, first to the end and then downward on the 
branch, and taking in other branches, — frequently destroying 
the entire amount of foliage on the tree. 



23 

When fully grown, this caterpillar nneasures a little more than 
one inch in length, having a body rather more slender than other 
similar feeders, very sparsely covered with hairs of a grayish 
color, intermingled with a few that are black. The general color of 
the body is greenish yellow, dotted with black. There is a brown- 
blackish stripe along the tdp of the back, and a bright yellow 
stripe on each side. The warts from which the hairs proceed 
are black on the back and rusty yellow on the sides. The head 
and feet are black. Of course their age has much to do with 
the distinctness of the markings, and the adult worm only will 
be found perfectly marked. 

In the last of August, or more generally in the month of 
September, they leave the trees and disperse, wandering about, 
eating a little of almost all plants they happen to find in 
their way, until they find a suitable place for concealment, where 
they make their thin, almost transparent cocoons, composed of 
a slight web of silk intermingled with the cast-off hairs from 
their bodies. If this place is not found they bury themselves 
just beneath the surface of the ground, where they spin as be- 
fore, and remain in all cases through the winter in this latitude ; 
but farther south they are said to be two-brooded. 

The pupae are transformed to moths in the ensuing June or 
July. These moths are white and without spots in New Hamp- 
shire, but at the South are said to possess rudimentary spots 
upon the first pair of wings. The fore legs are tawny yellow, 
and their feet blackish. Their wings expand about one and 
one-fourth inches. The antennae and feelers do not differ from 
those of other moths ; but the females have two rows of minute 
teeth beneath the antennae, which is a distinguishing feature. 

From the foregoing description of its habits and transforma- 
tions, it is evident that the time to exterminate these destructive 
insects is when they are first hatched from the egg, or while but 
few leaves are involved. This can be done at any time of the 
day, as they do not go about the tree for food, like the tent-cat- 
erpillars, but are always on the leaves covered with the web. If 
you carefully pick the leaves, it is sufficient ; or you can cut off 
the branch affected, if you choose. In any event they must be 
destroyed, and the surest and best method is to burn them. 



24 



Take a basket into your orchard, gather in it all the leaves on 
which the web is found, take them to your stove and burn them. 
Close attention to your premises for a few years will almost en- 
tirely rid you of this pest. On no account delay, as, if you do, 
they will slip through your fingers and very much increase your 
labors the next season. If they are neglected until they cover 
more than you desire to prune away, kill as you do the tent-cat- 
erpillar. 

Some consider this the second brood of the tent-caterpillar, 
but from the foregoing account it will at once be seen how wide- 
ly they differ. It hibernates in the pupa state, they in the egg 
state ; it appears in midsummer and fall, they in the spring ; its 
moth is pure white, theirs reddish brown ; its eggs are deposited 
on the leaf and are hatched in a few days, theirs are deposited 
on the twig, so as to pass the winter on the tree ; this feeds 
solely upon the soft part of the leaf under its web, they devour 
the whole leaf always on the outside of their tent. It will thus 
be seen that the only time and best manner of extermination 
must be as above given. 




CODLING-MOTH. Carpocapsa Pomonella. Linn, 

o, apple eaten by larva ; b, spot where egg is laid and the young worm enters ; c, cavity 
made by larva ; d, chrysalis; t, larva full grown ; /, moth with wings folded ; g, moth with 
wings expanded: h, head and first joint of larva (enlarged); /, cocoon. 



25 

This insect is, doubtless, found everywhere, where apples are 
raised. In the month of June, in this State, the night-flying 
moth comes from his silken cocoon, which was hid under some 
bit of bark, or sliver, on the fence near by. After pairing, the 
female may be seen in the dusk of night flitting around the 
apple-tree, laying her eggs in the blossom-end of the little 
apples. 

There are two broods each season. The first brood is very 
small, but the second is fifty to one of the first, or even more. 

The worm when young is whitish, with usually an entirely 
black head, and a black shield on the top of the first segment. 
When fully grown it acquires a flesh-colored or pinkish tint, espe- 
cially on the back, and the head and top of first segment, as at 
h, become more brown. It is sparsely covered with very minute 
hairs, which take their rise from little elevated points, of which 
there are eight on each segment. The cocoon is invariably of 
a pure color on the inside, but is disguised on the outside by 
being covered with minute fragments of whatever substance the 
worm happens to spin to. The chrysalis is yellowish brown, 
with rows of minute spines upon its back, by the aid of which 
it is enabled to partly push itself out of its cocoon, when its 
time to issue as a moth arrives. 

The moth is a beautiful object, yet from its habits not being 
known it is seldom seen in this State ; and the apple-grower, as 
a general thing, knows no more of the insect that gives him so 
many wormy apples than he does of men in the moon. Its fore 
wings are marked with alternate, irregular, transverse, wavy 
streaks of ash-gray and brown, and have, on the inner hind an- 
gle, a large, tawny-brown spot, with streaks of bright bronze or 
gold. As apples are raised in almost all sections of our coun- 
try, and wherever apples are raised this insect is a dreadful pest, 
it becomes us to be well acquainted with its habits, and I shall 
therefore speak more at length of it than of most other insects. 

Riley says, that in Missouri, as well as elsewhere, it is mostly 
two-brooded ; the second brood of worms hibernating in the 
larval state, inclosed in their snug little silken home, under 
some fragment of bark or other protection. The spring weather 
that causes our apple-trees to burst into blossom, releases this 



26 

imago from its pupal tomb, and though its wings are at first 
clamp, they soon dry under the rays of the sun that waked them 
into their full existence, and they seek their companions. They 
soon pair, when the male dies, and the female deposits, as be- 
fore stated, thousands of tiny yellow eggs. As the fruit begins 
to form, the egg hatches, and the worm develops in the little 
apple. In from one month to si.\ weeks it has become full 
grown. Eating its way out, as may be seen in the plate, it 
leaves the apple, and, spinning its cocoon in some crevice, 
changes in about three days to a chrysalis, and issues in about 
two weeks as a moth, same as before, only this time they do not 
always lay their eggs at the calyx, as they are often found now 
to enter at the side of the apple. This brood causes the wormy 
apples in the fall of the year. This second brood always passes 
the winter in a larval state, either as a worm in the apple, or as 
a cocoon, and it makes no difference with the time of its matur- 
ity whether it goes into its cocoon in September or any time in 
the fall, or not until spring. Neither does it matter whether it 
is in a warm room, or frozen, as in proper time, — that is, when 
the trees are in blossom, — it comes forth to propagate its kind. 

Riley says that when in a warm room they are active enough 
in winter, and will always fasten up any cuts made in their co- 
coons, though the cuts may be often repeated. These active 
worms perfect themselves at the proper season, just as well as 
those that have had a dormant stage, so we may conclude that 
the dormant stage is not a necessity with this insect. 

As this pest destroys millions of dollars' worth of fruit every 
year, of course it is worth our while to do all in our power to 
rid ourselves of it. This is a somewhat difficult thing to do, 
but a great deal can be done to mitigate the evil. 

Various authors recommend catching the moth with plates of 
sweetened vinegar or sweetened water, to be left standing about 
the trees in spring-time. A few may thus be caught, but at 
least twenty of our friends may be caught, and usually are, to 
one of our enemies, so that method is useless. 

The first crop of worms, as I have before said, is much the 
smaller, and as the development within the little apple prevents 
the full development of the apple, it withers and at length drops 



27 

off, usually before the worm leaves it. If this apple could al- 
ways be destroyed, of course the worm would reap the same 
destruction. Hogs in orchards in sufficient numbers would do 
this, by eating all the little windfalls, but hogs are not always at 
hand. A much better way is to spread a large cloth, prepared 
for the purpose, beneath the tree, just as the first apples begin 
to fall, and then by jarring the tree most can be jarred off, and 
then boil them. This operation, repeated once in three or four 
days, for, say three times each season, will destroy almost all the 
first brood, and prevent further trouble that year. 

No definite date can be given for this treatment, as some years 
the season varies many days ; watching the fruit, and gath- 
ering as directed, as soon as the first signs of exit of the worm 
can be found, or as soon as they begin to fall, will be sufficient 
direction. 

Another method, as given in the Country Gentleman, June 15, 
187 1, is also valuable. The writer recommends knocking them 
off with a pole. He says : " Two men with poles usually knock 
off the wormy specimens about as fast as one boy can gather in 
a basket." I suspect that this would usually be done too late, 
as after the worm has eaten its way out of the apple, thus show- 
ing the wormy ones, they might as well remain, for the worm is 
what we want to destroy, not its home. The exudations re- 
ferred to are not indications of the presence of the worm, but, 
on the contrary, are sure indications that it is not there. I will 
observe that the gathering of the withered fruit in New Hamp- 
shire would probably always' need to be in the month of July, 
and, to do good, must always be before the exit of the worm. If 
this is not done, cloths laid in the crotches of the branches to 
shelter the worms and entice them to build their cocoons, wisps 
of hay or straw wound round the tfees, folded or twisted paper 
bands put around the trees, or any attachment that will afford 
shelter to the worm and entice it to spin its cocoon, in such a 
way that it can be destroyed, is beneficial. These bands or 
cloths, after the cocoons are formed, should be burned, so as to 
make the destruction sure. They should first be placed about 
the trees about one month after the tree is in full blossom, and 
from this time to the time the apples are picked they should 



28 



be kept in order, being examined every week, and if cocoons 
are found they should be at once destroyed, and new bands put 
in their places, or if but a few they may be crushed, and the old 
protectors remain. 

In a letter received this season, I am asked the philosophy of 
the hay or straw bands. I can only say, with Prof. Riley, that 
the straw or hay bands simply afford an enticing shelter for the 
worm when seeking for a place to build its spun-up house. The 
hay band is just the thing wanted, as it affords the requisite 
shelter, and in ninety-nine cases in a hundred will be accepted. 
There are many patent traps for the same thing, but I am at 
least safe in saying that none of them are any better than the 
straw band ; many not half as good. 

Of the second crop of wormy apples, which are found so 
often in the barrels that find their way to market, I can only say 
that a careful examination in early spring of the barrels and the 
cellar in which they are kept, and the careful killing of all the 
cocoons that are found, will do much towards preventing the 
early brood. Though they have a few natural enemies, they are 
not in such abundance as to allow the orchardist to depend upon 
them in the least, and so I need make no mention of them. 






O/ g o 

Fig. 19. 
ROUND-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER. Saperda Bivittata. Say. 
Figures all natural size, a, larva full grown ; b, pupa ; c, perfect beetle. 

This is a native American, born and bred in the mountains, 
feeding upon the wild crab, mountain ash, and various other trees. 
It comes out of the trunk, usually in June, and always by night, 



29 

in its perfect state. Resting by day, in the night-time it flies 
from tree to tree for food and companions. Though they feed 
upon the bark of branches where it is tender and succulent, they 
lay their eggs on the bark at the foot of the tree, where the 
young, as soon as hatched, commence to burrow in the bark. 
For the first year, they live mostly in the bark, but, towards the 
last of the season, advance into the sap-wood. Frequently, in 
young trees, the bark over them will crack and allow their cast- 
ings to fall out, and thus they may be detected. They remain 
in the trees three years. As the time comes for their exit, they 
eat their way to the bark, thin that somewhat, and go into the 
pupa state, to emerge perfected in about four weeks. Fifty years 
ago, large, thrifty, long-lived apple-trees were exceedingly com- 
mon, and were grown with comparatively little effort on the part 
of our ancestors. This borer in the apple-tree was then entirely 
unknown to the farmer, and the first specimen ever seen was 
found and described by Thomas Say, in 1824; and it was not 
till some time after, that its destructive powers became evi- 
dent in the apple-tree. Yet it is to this borer, almost entirely,, 
that the short and precarious life of the apple-tree is due. 

All understand this borer to be a dreadful pest, but how to- 
deal with it is the question ; and to show more fully its habits, 
and how it may be exterminated, I will briefly review its history. 
The eggs when laid, as before mentioned, soon hatch, and the 
tiny worm, differing from the adult in no essential point but 
size, eats into the bark, and then follows between the bark and 
wood, sometimes entering the sap-wood low down towards the 
root the first season. While eating its way in lengthy furrows 
beneath the bark, the bark sometimes cracks, and the castings- 
of the worm tumble out, revealing its presence. When such is 
the case, they may be killed with a sharp wire, or carefully cut 
out with the point of a knife. If left alone they will remain in- 
active through the winter, to commence their work again early 
in the spring. The second season they spend mostly in the sap- 
wood, or near the bark, getting two-thirds their size, and this, 
year doing their greatest damage, as five or six of them will fre- 
quently girdle or nearly girdle the tree, making death sure ; they 
again winter low down in the body of the tree, and eat the next 



30 

season deeply into the wood, sometimes quite through the tree, 
finishing its gnawing work at the commencement of the third 
winter. At the close of its work it extends its passage invaria- 
bly to the bark, and thinning that somewhat, stuffing the upper 
end with wood, like sawdust, and below with soft wood fibres, it 
rests from its labors, remaining motionless as before through the 
winter. The following spring it casts ofif its skin, becoming a 
pupa ; rests in this condition about three weeks ; and then, as a 
beetle, gradually gets strength, and after nearly two weeks more, 
cuts its way through the sawdust piled against the bark, and then 
the bark, to issue through a round hole as an adult beetle, ready 
to propagate as before. The time from its entry to its egress, is 
about one month short of three years. 

Few ever take the trouble to hunt for this beetle, and as it 
flies in the night, lying concealed during the day, it is not often 
seen in the adult state. As will be seen in the cut, it has two 
stripes its entire length, and is rather handsome. 

There is still another species, called the flat-headed species, 
as the head of the larva is flat, but, as it is never very abundant 
and is of small size, it seldom does much harm, and the same 
treatment is destructive to both species. 

The best remedy is to prevent the successful laying of eggs, 
which may be done by smoothing and then soaping the bark. 
If such is done near the ground only, they will lay their eggs at 
the juncture of the largest limbs, or higher up on the trunk, so 
scraping and soaping must be thorough. If the borers are 
really in the trees, there is no way except to kill them, or cut 
them out one at a time. A small piece of whalebone is the best 
to kill them with, by pushing it into their holes. A piece of 
wire will answer. When the bark is killed over them it is just 
as well to cut them out. The application of the soap is neces- 
sary in May. Either soft or hard soap will do, but if hard soap 
is used a thin piece had better be crowded down into each prin- 
cipal crotch of the tree, so that the rain may wash it down the 
trunk. Do this, of course, after having washed the tree with 
strong suds. 



31 




Fig. 20. 

THE CURRANT-WORM. Nematiis Ventricosus. Klug. 

<i, a, a, different stages of growth; b, a single segment of the caterpillar magnified. 




Fig. 21. 
Adult specimens enlarged. The marks at ihe side represent the actual measurement with 
wings spread. <i, male ; b, female. 

This worm is so common and so well known in New Hamp- 
shire that it needs no description. It affords an excellent ex- 
ample of the wonderful rapidity with which an important insect 



32 

may increase and flourish in this country. It was imported from 
Europe in i860, into nurseries, in Rochester, N. Y. Since that 
time it has not only spread eastward throughout New England, 
but to the Far West. It is a dreadful pest to the currant and 
gooseberry bushes, and in sections where it has been left to do 
its work unchecked such fruits are numbered as things of the 
past. 

Though near fifty species of the Nematus are natives of this 
country, this little foreigner has forced himself so disagreeably 
to our notice that we almost forget the ravages of the native 
varieties. 

Though the worm is so well known, the fly that causes the 
mischief is seldom noticed. The female is of a bright honey- 
yellow color. The head is black, with all the parts below, as 
well as between, the origin of the antennx-, except the tip of the 
jaws, a dull honej'-yellow. The antennas are brown-black, often 
tinged with reddish above, except toward the base, and beneath, 
entirely dull reddish, except the two basal joints. They are four- 
fifths as long as the body ; the third joint, when viewed side- 
ways, is four times as long as wide ; the third, fourth, and 
fifth joints slowly diminishing in length. On the thorax are 
four conspicuous black spots and other smaller ones. The legs 
are bright honey-yellow ; the hip joints whitish, with the extreme 
tips of the hind shanks, and the whole of the hind toe joints 
are blackish brown. The wings are glossy, with dark veins, and 
expand a little over one-half inch. It is stated in the American 
Entomologist^ that in Europe she is known to lay eggs which 
have not been fertilized, and from them young caterpillars are 
hatched. It is probable, however, that they do not have the 
power of again propagating the race, and that the eggs hatch 
and the worms eat it just as likely as in the case of the silk-worm 
and other moths, as well as of some insects, including the 
honey-bee. 

The male (Fig. 21, d)'\% rather smaller and is black. The 
head is dull honey-yellow. The antennaj are brown-black, often 
a little reddish beneath, except toward the base ; they are as 
long as the body ; while longer than in the female, they are 
also somewhat flattened out. The under side of the thorax and 



33 

abdomen are honey-yellow. I have given this minute description 
of the fly, as, if seen and killed, hundreds of the worms may 
be saved. The eggs are laid about the 20th of May in New 
Hampshire, in regular rows, along the under side of the veins 
of the leaf, at the rate of about two a minute. The embryo 
escapes from the egg in from four to ten days, and immediately 
commences feeding. They continue their work upon the bushes 
until they are bare of leaves, and then, whether fully grown or 
not, go down into the ground and form little black pupae, vary- 
ing in size according to the way the worm is fed. Emerging in 
about two weeks, they lay their second brood, which pass the 
pupa state in the ground, as before, but do not emerge until the 
following spring. The fly lives about nine days. 

For their destruction, we first look to the birds. While a few 
only will catch the fly, none are found to eat the worm. Thus 
we are deprived of our most powerful ally. We never half 
realized the good done by insectivorous birds until we have an 
enemy they disregard. Among the natural enemies of this pest 
are three kinds of ichneumon-flies, of which one is an egg 
parasite. From this aid three-fourths of the eggs are destroyed ; 
but the other fourth give us much trouble. 

The first method of destruction is to pick off the worms and 
destroy them. This, if there are but few bushes, can be done 
quite easily, and is really the most practicable method. 

The next in use is to dust on the leaves powdered white helle- 
bore, from a muslin bag. Used in this way, it is not sufficiently 
poisonous to render dangerous the use of the fruit. This is 
recommended by Walsh and Riley. 

A solution of a pound of copperas to six gallons of water has 
been used with success. It blackens the leaves, but does no 
injury to them. Suds made of carbolic soap may be sprinkled 
on from a common sprinkler. Any dust that touches them is 
lodged in the spiracles, or breathing-pores, and soon produces 
death. Dust from the road, dried fine plaster of Paris, or any 
finely pulverized substance will answer. The Grafton fertilizer, 
which was finely pulverized quartz, was the best material I ever 
saw for killing them. It possessed the requisites of great fine- 
ness and perfect dryness, so it would make a dust easily. 
3 



34 



Gum aloes are, when fine, equally penetrating, and less danger- 
ous than the white hellebore. 

By a little attention in time this pest can be easily stayed, by 
any of the means spoken of, but TAe Boston yoiirnal of Chefnis- 
try says this worm can be immediately destroyed by the use of 
carbolate of lime. This is certainly less costly and more agree- 
able to use than the hellebore, so to those that must buy some- 
thing to use, instead of using road-dust, I would recommend it. 
With two or three applications the work would be done. 





Fig. 22. 

Fig. 24. 
CABBAGE-WORM. Pieris Rapa. 

Fig. 23, butterfly of the cabbage-worm, male. Fig. 24, female. The female is distin- 
guished from the male by having two round spots, rarely three, on the wings. The body of 
this butterfly is black above, with white wings, a, cabbage-worm ; b, chrysalis. 



This worm, the product of the rape-butterfly, is the great pest 
of the cabbage-grower, and doubtless the worst of all our 
imported insects. It was imported from England to Quebec in 
1857, as it is supposed, with a quantity of cabbages ; but it was 
so sparse that none were seen until 1859, and so rapid was its 
increase that in 1864 it had extended at least forty miles in 
every direction from Quebec, and it was estimated that it caused 



35 

a loss of the cabbage crop that would have sold for at least two 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

In England and Europe, it is the butterfly everywhere common ; 
its larva is the dread of every cook, as she expects to cook 
several with every cabbage, notwithstanding her utmost care. 
Its chrysalides are so abundant in the winter-time that they seem 
present upon everything that affords them the least protection ; 
even upon the doors of dwellings in constant use several may 
often be found. America had two native species, which some- 
times appeared upon the cabbage, but they were content with 
the outside leaves ; but while this important species riddle the 
outside leaves, they secrete themselves in the head also, and 
render it necessary to pull the same to pieces before cooking, 
and then you are not sure, for many times they appear cooked 
with the leaf. The color is so near that of the leaf upon which 
they feed that they are ever liable to appear as unwelcome 
visitants. The use of the cabbage among all is rapidly de- 
creasing from this cause. It has already spread over large 
sections of the country, being taken in Vermont in 1866, in 
Maine in 1868, and around New York and Boston in 1870. It 
is now almost as wide-spread as the cabbage is cultivated. 

The butterflies have their bodies black above, with wings 
white, as may be seen in the cuts. 

The female may be distinguished from the male by having 
two round spots, rarely three, instead of one as in the male, 
upon the front wings. Underneath both sexes are alike, and 
have two spots on each front wing, but none on the back ones, 
which are usually yellowish, yet sometimes with a greenish tint. 
They vary much in color, but the above general description will 
be sufficient to enable one to recognize them, as the first 
impression will be white or nearly so, and the slight variations 
of tint, from yellow to green, will not be likely to much confuse. 

This butterfly deposits its eggs upon the leaves of the cabbage, 
usually upon the under side. They are exceedingly beautiful 
when magnified, having a delicate tint, variable as in the butter 
fly, and seemingly etched with a beautiful network of lines. The 
larva, as seen in the cut at «, is pale green, finely dotted with 
black, with a yellowish stripe down the back, and a row of yel- 



36 

lowish spots along each side in a line with the breathing-holes. 
As the stripes and spots are somewhat obscure, some farmers do 
not notice them, and think they have another variety, which is 
possible, as we have two native species that sometimes feed 
upon the cabbage, but they are sparse in numbers, and seldom 
seen in New Hampshire. 

When about to transform, it leaves the plant upon which it 
feeds and takes shelter under the rails of fences, in stone-walls, 
or any place convenient, and changes to a chrysalis, which, 
though variable in color, is usually pale green, speckled with 
minute black dots, as seen at b. 

The second brood pass the winter in this condition, this 
species, like our native ones, having two broods a year. 

The first remedy that occurs to most when they see their 
cabbages destroyed, is to quit raising them, and starve them 
out. This cannot be, as they feed upon several plants, and 
even upon the willow, when other food is not at hand. 

The first method of attack is to cover the young plant with 
mosquito-netting, held off from the leaves by sticks, usually four 
of them, set in the ground, and a piece of netting pinned on. 
This is done in various ways, according to the tact of the person 
doing it, and, when properly done, prevents the eggs being laid 
upon the leaves, and so the cabbage grows in security. This 
costs, besides the labor, from one to two cents for each cab- 
bage. 

If this is not done, picking the eggs is the next method. 
They can be easily found, and, if attended to often, they may all 
be destroyed. Children can easily do this, and are usually led 
to do it by the promise of a small reward for any certain number 
found. When the butterflies are seen about your garden they 
can easily be caught in a net, as they are slow, lumbering fliers, 
and easily killed, thus crushing hundreds of eggs without hunt- 
ing for them. 

If the eggs have not been destroyed, poultry, if in numbers, 
will pick oflf most of the worms, as they are considered by fowls 
as a sweet morsel, very desirable. But we can not fully depend 
upon them to do the work, though they will help greatly. As 
they get into the very heart of the cabbage-head, hand-picking 



37 

will not amount to much more, but yet it will decrease their 
numbers so that cabbages can be raised. 

Paris green or white hellebore will, of course, kill the worms, 
but should never be used, as it will lodge in the growing head 
and endanger the lives of those making use of the cabbage. 
Dust sprinkled on it is also effectual, but will leave grit in the 
head so as to injure it for eating, yet is without danger. 

Carbolic soap-suds are destructive to them, and if not too 
strong will not injure the plant. Fine sawdust impregnated 
with carbolic acid is one of the best things for their destruction. 
Superphosphate of lime, fine salt, ashes, and lime have all been 
used with effect, yet nothing of the kind is sure to kill all the 
worms. Close attention to the plant, or perfect protection by 
netting, as first spoken of, is the only way to secure a crop of 
cabbages. 

If, as estimated, at least half a million dollars' worth of 
cabbages were destroyed by it around New York City alone, 
last year, and an average of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars' worth are annually destroyed around Boston, Montreal, 
and other cities, it shows beyond question, that we have, in 
spite of our warfare upon it, an implacable foe. 

We have thus far but one insect that lends us substantial aid. 
This is a species of chalcid-fly, and so rapid has been its work 
that of one hundred and ten chrysalides, collected by F. W. Put- 
nam, of Salem, Mass., at least two-thirds were infested, and 
brought forth chalcid-flies instead of cabbage-butterflies. In 
most sections, however, this help has not yet arrived, but will 
become general, doubtless, in a few years. 

By placing boards elevated a few inches from the ground 
about your cabbages, the worms will select these places for their 
change to the chrysalis state ; and as those infested by the chal- 
cid-fly can be easily distinguished by the livid and otherwise 
diseased appearance of the body, and left to produce flies, while 
the healthy are destroyed, you can aid your friends and destroy 
your enemies. If the chrysalides are all found healthy, you can 
make a general destruction. 



38 





Fig. 26; Larva. 
Fig. 25 ; Tongue. 

COMMON HOUSE-FLY. Musca Domestica. LiNN. 

This fly, in fact, needs no introduction, as it is well known 
everywhere, so I do not as much as give its portrait. 

There is, however, in the study of the proboscis and tongue- 
like organ, as seen in the cut above (Fig. 25), much for study. 
The maxillffi are minute, and their palpi (w/) are single-jointed, 
and the mandibles {nt) are comparatively useless, being very 
short and small compared with the lancet-like jaws of the mos- 
quito. But the structure of the tongue itself {labium, I) is 
most curious. When the fly settles upon a lump of sugar, or 
any other eatable substance, it unbends its tongue, extends it, 
and the broad, knob-like end divides into two broad, flat, muscu- 
lar leaves (/), which thus present a sucker-like surface, with 
which the fly laps up its food. These two leaves are supported 
upon a frame-work of tracheal tubes, which act as a set of 
springs to open and shut the muscular leaves. These, it will be 
seen from the magnified cut, end in hairs projecting externally. 
Thus the inside of this broad, fleshy expansion is rough, like a 
rasp, and so is easily employed by the insect in scraping or tear- 
ing delicate surfaces. It is by means of this curious structure 
that the house-fly occasions much injury to the covers of books, 
or any polished surface that owes its polish to albuminous mate- 
rial. It is by means of these, also, that it teases us in the heat 
of summer, when it alights upon the hands or face, to sip the 
perspiration as it exudes from, and is condensed upon, the skin. 

Doubtless all have noticed that house-flies are more numerous 



89 

about barns, but few trace the transformation of the fly. Where 
the house-fly comes from, is often asked, yet seldom answered, 
as its habits have not been much observed. The barn and its 
vicinity are usually its birthplace, and about such places may be 
seen in June, now and then, stray flies, the remnant of last year's 
brood, that have in some sheltered nook survived in a dormaht 
state the cold of winter. The excrements of the horse are the 
most desirable on which to deposit its eggs, and yet they may, 
for want of that material, deposit them on other refuse of the 
barn, and sometimes even on sand or loam that is made rich by 
the wash of the buildings. The eggs hatch almost immediately, 
producing a maggot, fleshy, smooth, and shining, about one- 
third of an inch in length, and yellowish white (Fig. 26). 
After feeding for some time it goes into the pupa state, shorten- 
ing up as in a (Fig. 26). It is a reddish brown case, two-thirds 
the length of the maggot, and, as seen in the cut, thicker and 
stouter. In this transition case it remains from six to ten days, 
— according to the warmth of the weather, — emerging there- 
from a perfect, full-grown fly. I have frequently called the 
attention of the farmer to the pupa case, asking him what it 
was. He almost invariably answers that he supposes them un- 
digested oats that have passed his horse ; and in several 
instances they were dosing horses for indigestion, having taken 
these pupae for the signs of such. From inquiry thus, I have 
concluded that most farmers notice the pupa cases, but do not 
understand what they are. I have never known the house-fly 
to lay its eggs upon meat, or anything about the house, though 
they sometimes do about a sink-spout, or other places where 
slops are thrown out. With a little concerted action among our 
population, the house-fly might be greatly decimated in numbers. 
All barnyard fowls are fond of the larva and the pupa also, and, 
if yarded where they have full access to their breeding-grounds, 
will greatly aid in their destruction. As fowls are given to 
much wandering, they will seldom eat the pupa unless shut up 
in a yard where the manure from the barn is thrown, or where 
it usually lies ; as the dirt in such locations is rich enough in the 
necessary larval food to produce them if no manure is at hand. 
We will now turn our attention to microscopic pests. 



40 



MICROSCOPIC PESTS. 

At the present time, every one who possesses any love of na- 
ture, or even a love simply for marvelous things, desires some 
knowledge of the minute mysteries of nature. To follow out 
the peculiar character of animal or plant when too small singly 
for the human eye to study, requires a microscope. At the prices 
they are now sold for, they are within reach of almost every one. 
With our microscope complete, wherever we search, be it our 
own dwellings, the meadow or the upland, the grasses or the 
forest, the ruin crumbling into dust or the sands of the sea- 
shore, even in the waters of our marshes, rivers, lakes or ocean, 
there may be discovered plants and animals which are unknown 
to our unaided vision, yet endowed with organs perfectly adapted 
to their respective necessities ; and with regard to the latter, of- 
ten, if not always, for their enjoyment. Even in the aqueous 
vapor and dust of the atmosphere are germs of living beings, 
both animal and vegetable, though the latter much predominate, 
that the microscope alone enables us to contemplate with any 
satisfaction. 

It is true that when near sundown a beam of sunlight strug- 
gles through the thick foliage of a forest, or enters our room by 
means of some small aperture, we can see, floating in that beam 
of light, numerous particles of apparent dust, yet what its form, 
or its ultimate destination, our unaided eye could never inform 
us. It is the microscope alone that gives us aid, and that shows 
us countless spores, or seeds to reproduce minute vegetation, as 
well as plants actually flourishing in the atmosphere. Also the 
germs of animal life are often, yes, very often, there ; and, judg- 
ing from analogy, we find thus an easy method to propagate by 
germ various diseases in the human family ; and that such is 
often true is beyond reasonable doubt, though such germs have 
never been fully identified. In our limited survey of those won- 
ders of life and organization, which are thus revealed to us, it is 
natural to first turn our attention to the vegetable kingdom. 
And the largest number, as well as the most interesting, of the 
peculiar plants thus revealed in all their beauty, yet perhaps 



41 

the most difficult to understand, on account of their varied ap- 
pearance and intermediate forms, are the 

FUNGI. 

Their sudden appearance and growth, their ephemeral nature, 
and the multiplicity of their forms, have always been a source 
of trouble to investigators, and even the most indefatigable of 
modern mycologists have been able to lift but partially the veil 
which hangs over the life and development of these organisms. 
Almost every one, however, supposes that there can be no doubt 
as to what a toadstool, a mildew, or a mold is, and some may 
•even correctly call them fungi, but many others are entirely un- 
acquainted with that Latin word which denotes them. Rust on 
grain, and smut on Indian corn and other cereals, are also familiar 
to farmers ; but a vast multitude of other all too numerous fungi 
are known only to the botanist by name, and only to the mycol- 
ogist in their habits and structures, and to him only after long 
and patient study. In fact, it is to the researches of many emi- 
nent men and women, in Europe, Great Britain, and in this 
country, both among the dead as well as among the living, that 
the structure, habits and mode of growth, relation to the "various 
departments of industry, injurious effects and general utility of 
these smaller fungi in nature, are collected and known. As 
plants, although of a low order of organization, they are of great 
interest as mere objects of beauty ; but to attain a full compre- 
hension of this fact we must have recourse to the microscope, 
as the peculiar portions of these structures are beyond the reach 
of unaided vision. No one that has not had his eye upon them, 
aided by magnifying power, could possibly conceive that the lit- 
tle specks of brown or black, seen on the brilliant ripening fo- 
liage of the maple in September and October, or on the skins of 
apples, pears, and other fruit ; on the dry stalks of plants or 
straw, on old decaying matter, on the buildings and fence-rails, 
on the panes of the window, or the bodies of diseased insects, 
like bees and house-flies, — in fine, on almost everything, — are re- 
ceptacles of exquisitely sculptured and carved seed-vessels, 
called spores \ often beaded thread-like strings of pearls ; again. 



42 

consisting of myriads of the most fantastic shapes that the 
genius of man could imagine, but could never imitate. 

A subject so broad and so varied, one which can be investi- 
gated at any season of the year, inviting the naturalist, more es- 
pecially the botanist, forth from earliest spring to latest autumn, 
to search for forms of beauty on every living or ripening leaf 
and fruit, and in winter rendering the evening lamp more at- 
tractive in studying the collected treasures of the summer's 
gleanings ; even if such collections have not been made, the 
barn with its harvested treasures is at hand, and from that may 
be taken specimens which can never fail to interest as well as in- 
struct every thoughtful person in some way or other ; and would 
ever be of the greatest interest, if presented in an agreeable 
manner, and shown with regard to their reference, or connec- 
tion, with the industrial pursuits of society. 

Not only is such study of interest to the botanist, whose spe- 
cialty is the study of fungi, but it possesses more than ordinary 
interest to the husbandman whose crops often lie at the mercy 
of some of this class of parasites, and to his family, as their wel- 
fare often depends upon these minute organisms. Even a slight 
acquaintance with a few of these wonderful little plants, would 
render the walk for exercise or pleasure ten times more valuable, 
and often remunerative. Who, even without special thought 
upon the subject, has not noticed along the roadside early as 
June, where blackberry-bushes are found among weeds and grass, 
that their leaves were powdered underneath with rich golden 
dust, which might be shaken from little orange cups 1 Many 
times from children, and often also from the middle-aged and old, 
has come the query as to what it was. On other bushes also, 
when yielding fruit, even, to tempt women, men, boys, and 
maidens ; yet would they turn aside, because the dust was omi- 
nous, but in what way or from whence it came none knew. 

Those dusty-looking lilac-bushes, so dusty ere the close of 
summer that no rain could wash them clean, or ever will, so long 
as that peculiar white egg-mold riots on the upper surfaces of 
their leaves. 

The crystalline drops of permanent dew, on some refuse mat- 
ter, ofte-i attract attention as they glisten in the sun, but few stop 



43 

to examine and see the white threads in countless numbers that 
permeate them. Though such things often attract attention, 
they are soon forgotten when we know nothing about them, and 
no one is there to tell an anecdote from their history. Cun- 
ningly, wisely, and full of secret hidden meaning, a thousand 
forms of lower vegetable life look up into our faces, while we, with 
repressed curiosity and not quite willing, tread them under our 
feet. How few even ever stop to think that they are leaves in 
the great book of nature, and consequently worthy the reading, 
and that to every one who will study those pages and translate 
the hieroglyphics, that the time and trouble of deciphering would 
be richly rewarded by the knowledge obtained. 

" How thankful I am to you, " said a friend, " that you have 
told me so much about the lichens in our pastures. They are 
now a great source of happiness to me ; formerly I detested 
them." 

" The best lectures on botany," said a well-known and highly 
appreciated educator, " are lessons upon every plant we meet." 
Yes, within reach of all of us is study for a life-time, and we may 
thus not only please ourselves, but by and by be considered 
benefactors. With an intention to introduce a few of these little 
parasitical growths to the attention of the reader, and to make 
plain and easy what at first seems so obscure and mysterious, I 
will bring forward some of the more common species, and, ex- 
plaining by word and figure their form and habits, endeavor to 
interest you to such an extent that you will be willing at least to 
acknowledge their power for good or evil, and know where to 
find your enemy, when pet plants, or fields of grain, grasses, or 
potatoes, are likely to fail under the evil so wide-spread and 
fatal. 

CLUSTER CUPS. 

M. C. Cooke, the great English writer on fungi, divides them 
into six families. In one of these families the spores are the 
principal feature. This family is called the " dust fungi " 
{Coniomycetes). Of course it contains many groups, called 
families or orders, which are analogous to the natural orders of 



44 

flowering plants. Without enumerating any of the various 
characteristics of these orders, I will select one typical plant. 
The spores are inclosed in a distinct peridium (covering for the 
seeds). This is a cup-shaped excrescence on the infested leaves. 
This order is called ^cidiacei. They are always developed on 
living plants, sometimes on the flowers, fruit, or stems, but 
usually on the leaves ; occasionally on the upper surface, but 
almost always on the under side of the leaf. 

The different species are distributed widely over the entire 
world. They may be found on every continent, and on almost 
every island. When examined they look like minute cups upon 
the leaf, and hence we call them '^ cluster cups." Besides the 
generic name they have also added a specific name, generally 
derived from some plant they are known to infest ; but this must 
not lead the student to suppose that one species is only found 
on that particular plant, for most of them infest many plants, 
yet some, of course, to a greater extent than others. 

We must therefore look to the actual differences in the fungi, 
not in the plants they infest. 

The leaf may be truly said to be the lung of the plant. 
Through the stomata (minute holes) on the under side of the 
leaf, the plant obtains nourishment from the atmosphere, which 
is as necessary to them as our breath is to us. 

Anything that clogs or injures the stomata of any plant 
directly injures the growth of that plant. This little fungi, when 
the plant has become infested, breaks through the epidermis, 
destroying many of the breathing-pores (stomata), and also 
draws its own nourishment from the life-juices of the plant it 
infests. Before it breaks through the under surface of the leaf, 
the infested leaf, if closely examined, will appear to be covered 
with little elevations or pustules, paler at the apex ; these soon 
become ruptured, and the fungus pushes its head through the 
opening, at the same time bursting by radiating fissures. The 
teeth thus formed resemble those of the peristome of some 
mosses. All around the orifice the teeth, or fringe, become re- 
curved, and the orange spores (fungi seed) are exposed, crowded 
together within. At first, and in fact while contained in the 



45 

peridium (cup), these spores are connected together as a string 
of beads, but when dispersed they are scattered singly about 
the orifice, often mixed with colorless cells arising from the 
partial breaking up of the teeth, or fringe, of the peridium. Let 
us now for a moment examine the manner in which these cups 
are distributed upon the leaf. They are scattered without any 
apparent order over the under surface, with now and then one 
upon the upper surface, but they nowhere touch each other, 
unless at the margins of the leaf, but then they are never joined, 
only crowded. Generally there is a space greater than the width 
of the cups between them. The leaf is not thickened by their 
growth, and the upper surface gives you no indication of what is 
going on beneath. If a leaf be taken fresh, and the epidermis 
from the under side be stripped off, as it is often easy to do, the 
orifices through which the fungi have burst will appear in 
irregular holes, and the fungi will be left rooted still upon the 
leaf, showing that they are not confined to the surface, and thus 
we see why the damage is so great to the plant upon which they 
subsist. 

The spores in this species are orange in color, but variable 
both in size and form, though the majority are comparatively 
large. Each of these spores is capable of reproducing its 
species, and if we compute two thousand cluster cups as occur- 
ring on each leaf, and many leaves have double this number, 
and supposing each cup to contain two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand spores, which again is much below the actual number, then 
we shall have not less than five hundred millions of reproductive 
bodies on one infected leaf, to furnish a crop of parasites for the 
plants of the succeeding year. As we thus so soon reckon by 
millions, our figures and capacities fail in appreciating the 
myriads of spores which compose the orange dust produced from 
one infected cluster of plants. Nor is this all, for it is found 
that one of these spores is not only capable of producing a 
plant, but is in itself a bundle of vegetative spores, which are 
exceedingly minute, and yet, small as they are, they have the 
capability to produce fresh crops of cluster cups. 

Naturally enough, our reader will ere this be debating in his 



46 

own mind how these spores, which we have seen are shed in 
such profusion, can enter the tissues of the plants which give 
subsequent evidence of infection, as I have described ; in fact, 
how the yellow dust with which the atmosphere may be filled 
to-day can inoculate the young plants of next year. If one or 
two of these spores are sprinkled upon the cuticle which has 
been removed from the leaf, as we have before indicated, it will 
be seen that they are very much larger than the stomata, or 
breathing-pores, which stud the cuticle ; hence it is clear they 
cannot gain admittance there. There remains but one other 
portal to the interior of the plant, and that is through the 
extremities of the roots. Here another difficulty arises ; for the 
spores are as large as the cells through which they would there 
have to pass. This difficulty is, however, much lessened when 
we remember that these spores are a bundle of infinite particles, 
each particle of which is probably capable of infecting a plant. 
Even under this consideration, there is much need of an active 
imagination, to invent hypotheses to cover the points upon 
which we as yet know nothing definite. 

'* The Rev. M. J. Berkeley proved many years ago that the 
spores of bunt, for example, may be caused to infect all the 
plants the seeds of which had been placed in contact with 
them." But this did not prove that the seeds absorbed them, 
as it is probable they did not, but they would adhere to the 
seed and thus be conveyed to the ground, where infection to the 
sprout would be probable. Much has been done to elucidate 
this mystery, but much remains a mystery still. No spores 
have ever been seen traversing the tissues of growing plants. 

The stems and leaves of violets, sweet-scented and scentless 
all alike, are often distorted and ruined altogether by a variety 
of cluster cups ; the stinging nettle does not escape ; the hardy 
dock, the useful currant, the wild geraniums, alike feed with 
their juices fungi of this description. 

It has long been a popular belief in England (says F. B. 
Hough in his report on Forestry), that the barberry-bush {Ber- 
beris vulgaris) has some agency in the propagation of rust in 
wheat and other grain, and the researches of botanists have 



47 



somewhat tended to confirm this belief. The spores from grain- 
rust {Puccinia graminis) are said to find their way to the leaves 
of the barberry, germinate, and form cluster cups on the under 
surface of the leaves, and the spores from these in turn germi- 
nate on the grain by alternate generation. The fact that rust 
sometimes appears in fields where there are no barberry-bushes 
capable of bearing the intermediate form, appears to indicate 
that there are other plants having the same capability of bearing 
the intermediate growth. The clearing off of barberry, or other 
plants or bushes, near wheat-fields, has, it is claimed, been pro- 
ductive of good results ; and if it should be proved beyond 
doubt that there is a direct relation between this and grain-rust, 
the use of the barberry as a hedge-plant, as well as that of other 
bushes, should be discontinued. Cooke, on the other hand, says 
that while this statement long ago had credit among the people, 
it has no foundation in fact, as the genera are distinct and per- 
fect in themselves ; while some others, perhaps equally eminent, 
claim intermediate and spurious forms. Professor CErsted, it is 
said, has recently determined 
their identity as one and the 
same plant. In this figure 
(Fig. 27), a shows a leaf of the 
barberry, with cluster cups upon 
it {/Ecidium herberidis) ; b, a 
portion of the leaf magnified ; 



c, the same fragment seen side- 
wise. 

The leaves of the pear show 
other species, and very singular 
and curious clusters of excres- 
cences occur on the leaves of 
the apple-tree and mountain 
ash, and are also very promi- i,,^ 2^ 

nent on the leaves of the quince-tree, and especially of the wild 
apple-tree of the West, consisting of large peridia, pointed at 
the tops, and so swollen below as to bear a rude resemblance to 
urns, the edges split into long, contorted threads. They are a 




48 




species of Rtcs/elia. The R. lacerata is seen in Fig. 28, a, 

natural size, living on the leaves 
and fruit of the hawthorn ; b, a 
portion magnified. The spores 
are also of a light orange color, 
but the plant, by comparison, or 
even by comparison of the cuts, 
may be seen to widely differ in 
its appearance. The fir and 
pine also suffer, as they are 
often attacked by the Perider- 
minum, which changes the foli- 
age, and spoils the effect of their 
branches, rendering them un- 
Kig. 28. sightly. Unfortunately but little 

is known of this fungus, but it is well worthy of attention from 

those that are interested in the minute 'aspects of nature, and 

those who can recognize the hand 

" That sets a sun amidst the firmament, 
Or luolds a dewdrop, and lights up its gem." 

But we must not stop for reflection, but slightly notice another 
class. The spores of the smaller fungi have thus far been 
spoken of as seeds, but this is not strictly true, and several novel 
and interesting points for consideration and inquiry arise. 

If we should place some of the yellow dust, which fills the 
cup-shaped peridia, in a drop of water, and prevent its evapora- 
tion by covering it with a watch-crystal, or any other glass would 
do as well, we should find in a few hours that each particle of 
the dust had swollen, and bursting at some point had given out 
a little thread, at the apex of which it is crowned with delicate 
curved appendages, which soon become connected by lateral 
threads, thus forming a kind of latticed network, and from the 
sides of these filaments little cells sprout, which in turn germi- 
nate and reproduce the plant. Those of our readers who are 
familiar with the early stages of the ferns, can trace a striking 
analogy in the process. 

In many of the smaller fungi the spore is present in another 
form, constituting what is termed the spermagone (pustules and 



49 

depressions like pockets), often in shape of a minute dot near 
tlie peridium, and sometimes on the other side of the leaf. In 
fact it may be like a little blister filled with threads, throwing 
off little curved bodies called spermatia (germinating filaments), 
which escape through an orifice provided for the purpose. 

Before the nature of these singular objects was known, sper- 
magones were mistaken for distinct kinds of fungi, and many 
species were thus described. In the Peridermimim Pint, before 
spoken of, they are white, few in number, and are developed not 
only in the spring, but sometimes re-appear in the autumn upon 
the same leaves that produced them at the commencement of 
the year. The evident effort of nature, then, in this process, is 
to produce an ultimate condition of fungal life, which shall be 
sure to continue indefinitely the presence of the parasites upon 
the leaves and other parts of the higher plants. And this is 
done with certainty by the mycelium, a system of the most sub- 
tile threads, which can enter the tissues by attacking the seed 
when sown, and whose persistence of vitality enables it to 
endure the most trying circumstances unharmed. So vitalized 
indeed is the mycelium, that any fragment of it will vegetate 
and grow after long periods of desiccation. And its luxuriance 
of growth is in nowise dependent on any higher development, 
such as, were it the stems and leaves of a flowering plant, would 
be necessary to cause it sooner or later to push forth blossoms 
and fruit. 

This wonderful vitality is taken advantage of in the cultiva- 
tion of the edible fungi, such as the mushroom for example, 
where lumps of dry earth permeated by the mycelium, or 
*' spawn," as it is called, are planted in prepared soil andagood 
crop realized. It is familiar to nurserymen, and all those who 
cultivate trees for shade or otherwise, that they often languish 
and die, owing to their roots reaching spots deep in the ground, 
where decayed wood or other vegetable remains are filled with 
this subtile fungal spawn^ which inoculates the tree with the 
destructive fungus, causing its death. Fortunately, the awaken- 
ing and full vigor depends much upon the atmospheric condi- 
tion, else we should live in fear that every plant would be 
blasted. From this cause fungi of every form are often regarded 
4 



50 

as meteorological phenomena, and wet and foggy weather are 
complained of as harbingers of various fungoid evils. 

MILDEW OR RUST. 

Peculiar hot and damp days will be dreaded by nearly all on 
account of "mildew," but " mildew " is one of those loose terms 
that represents no definite idea, or a very different one to vari- 
ous individuals. 

Talk of mildew of grain to a farmer, and he tells you of the 
rust which appears in lines or irregular spots upon the wheat- 
stalk, indicating Puccinia graminis, which is known to him and 
generations before him in many sections as mildew. 

Talk to a New England housewife of mildew, and she will 
describe a minute species of fungus which attacks damp linen, 
as true mildew, and will ask if you know what will remove the 
spots occasioned by it. 

Ask the hop-grower of New York about mildew, and he will 
point out a species of mold that infests the hop-vine, but which 
differs as much from the mildev/ of the South as does the mildew 
of linen. The librarian will tell you of mildewed books and 
papers, and the housemaid of mildewed cellars, — all meaning a 
fungous growth, but as wide in their significance as the poison- 
hemlock and hemlock-tree. 

Mildew in England means in literature but one thing, and that 
is the rust upon wheat and other grain, known scientifically as 
Puccinia graminis. 

But let us look into the history of this pest. In view of a 
clearer understanding of this peculiar pest, so long supposed to 
be several separate species, and which under the present light 
of science seems fast merging into one, we will suppose a fine 
day in June dawns upon our resolve to learn of mildew, or rust, 
and we stray away from the village to gain the chance to exam- 
ine a wheat-field. Having reached the field, there is no appear- 
ance of anything but a healthy crop ; we walk into it perhaps 
fifteen or twenty yards before we find a single fungus of which 
we are in quest. But let us look closely down at the green 
leaves at the very bottom of the wheat-plant, and we are soon 



51 

rewarded, as we shall find one or two that look rusty. The sur- 
face seems powdered with red ochre, and to have grown sickly 
under the operation. Pluck it carefully, and examine it with 
low magnifying power ; a pocket lens will do. Already the cuti- 
cle of the leaf is traversed with numerous longitudinal cracks 
or fissures, within which and around which you discern an orange 
powder, to which the rusty appearance on the leaf is due. 
Further examination reveals also portions in which the cuticle is 
distended into yellowish elongated pustules, not yet ruptured, 
and which is an earlier stage of this same disease. This is the 
rust of the New England agriculturist, the Trichobasis rtibigo 
vera of the botanist, or the first phase of the mildew. 

To know more of this parasite we must take it to our micro- 
scope, and by careful manipulation we shall find that the vege- 
tative system of this, as well as of all similar fungi, consists of a 
number of delicate simple or branched threads, often intertwin- 
ing and even uniting one to the other by little branchlets. These 
threads, as we have before explained, are called the mycelium ; 
they penetrate the intercellular spaces and insinuate themselves 
in a complete network among the cells of which the leaf or other 
diseased portion of the plant is composed. We may regard the 
whole mycelium of one pustule, or spore-spot, as the vegetative 
system of one fungal plant. At first it might have originated 
as several individuals, which afterward become combined as 
one, for the production of fruit, and by their combined effort a 
cluster of fruity or spore-spot, is produced. 

In the first instance, a number of minute, transparent, color- 
less cellules are developed from the mycelium ; these enlarge, 
and are filled with an orange-colored endochrome, and appear 
beneath the leaf as yellowish spots. As a consequence of this 
increase of bulk, the cuticle becomes distended in the form of 
a pustule over the yellow cellules, and at length, unable to with- 
stand the pressure from beneath, ruptures in irregular, but more 
or less elongated fissures, and the yellow bodies, which I will 
call spores, break from their short pedicels and escape ; to the 
naked eye presenting the appearance of an orange powder. 

On the first of August we will again visit our wheat-field. 
Rusty leaves are more common than before. A little careful 



^'Z 



examination, and here and there we shall find a leaf or two 
with decidedly brown pustules intermixed with the rusty ones. 
If we remove from the browner spots a little of the powder by 
means of a sharp-pointed knife, and place it in a drop of water, 
and cover it with a thin glass, and place it under our microscope* 
a different series of forms will be observed. There will still be 
a portion of one-celled yellow spores, but the majority will be 
elongated, mostly with short stalks, and either decidedly two- 
celled or a tendency to be so. 

These two-celled spores are another form of the mildew called 
Pucci7iia gratninis, which may be produced in the same pustules 
and from the same mycelium as the rust previously described, 
and is generally considered at the present time to be the same 
fungus. Other grain and various other plants are likewise 
affected. 

Fig. 29 represents at a, wheat-straw inefcted 
with this rust ; b, cluster of spores magnified ; 
c, single spore magnified 300 diameters. 

This rust is so common and so much alike 
on all plants, that this plate will answer to rep- 
resent the fungus wherever found. 

Let us now for the third time visit our wheat- 
field. It is ripe^ or else much damaged, possi- 
bly destroyed, by the fungi. 

On the straw we shall find black lines, or 
blackish spots, from the size of a pin's head to 
an inch in length ; this is the mildew, rust, or 
Fuccinia, — it matters not what name it is 
called, — in full maturity, and when once seen 
it is never forgotten. Botanists may dispute 
about its intermediate stages ; may give it dif- 
'''^■'''' ferent names when found on other plants, — 

but it still remains the great pest of the husbandman. There 
are no lingering doubts in the minds of agriculturists, bot- 
anists, savans of science, or laborers, that the rust is not injuri- 
ous, because the most casual observation shows it in the sickly 
condition of all plants affected through the season. 

The manner of impregnation is unknown, or, if known, is in 




53 

dispute. Some believe, as the stomata or breathing-pores of 
the plant are open in clamp weather, that the infinitesimal germs 
enter these pores and gain a foothold, and push their rootlets 
into the cellular tissue of the plant. Others think they enter 
from the ground through the roots, and others still do not be- 
lieve that they enter the plant at all, but that the seeds are poi- 
soned by the touch of their spores. Be it as it may, we well 
know that it exists, and of course desire to have as little dam- 
age from it as possible. Observation has shown that rich land, 
or that manured by old manure, is much more likely to have the 
grain crop injured than land not so rich, or manured by green 
manure or some of our fertilizers. This should teach care in 
the preparation of our land. Some claim that an admixture of 
sulphur in sowing, and others that if it is sifted on the leaves, is 
a preventive. Careful experiments have shown all such reme- 
dies useless. Ashes are good to produce a healthy condition of 
the crop, while they have no effect upon the fungi. 

The state of the atmosphere conducive to very rapid growth, 
is usually liable to develop the pest. We believe that all straw 
infected to a large extent should be burned, and all grasses and 
weeds standing around such fields should share the same fate. 
In this way the principal danger might be avoided. 

Another instance of the two-formed condition of the smaller 
fungi can be traced in the delicate condition of moldiness 
which frequently covers the leaves of the lilac, the grape, the 
fruit of the gooseberry, and various other plants. It looks like 
strings of beads made of colorless cells. In this condition it is 
known and described as Oidiiim. 

Fig. 30, a, tufts of conidia of the Oid- 
ium Monilioides ; b, portion of grass leaf 
with same species of blight, the spores 
being the self-same beads and egg-shaped 
bodies, whence the generic name, but 
careful observation will show us that this 
is not its perfect condition ; and when, 
later in autumn, these threads become 
more compact, and are surmounted on 
their horizontal surfaces by shining black 




54 

capsules, or perithecia, each of which is filled wiih elegant 
elliptical and elongated cells, and each in turn containing sev- 
eral spores, we shall find in Erisyphe that we have arrived at the 
conclusion of the dimorphism of this fungus, so injurious in its 
effects. 

The famous grape mildew, so destructive to the grapes of Eu- 
rope, and known as Oidiiim Tuckeri, is also only an imperfect 
form of some common Erisyphe ; so of the grape fungi of New 
England, as well as of various other fungal plants. 

Even the cluster cup first described is quite likely to turn out 
but one form of the rust, on some other plant. Some, as I have 
before said, even now suppose it identical with the Fuccinia, 
and with good reason. 

SMUTS. 

Another of the fungal diseases of grain, long and widely 
known among agriculturists, is here called smut. Different 
names have been given it in different localities. In some it 
is " dust-brand," in others, "bunt-ear," " black-ball," etc. All 
the names refer to the blackish, sootlike dust with which the 
infested and abortive heads are covered. This fungus in New 
England does not generally excite much alarm among the farm- 
ers, yet it often injures the crop. Perhaps it is not so extensively 
injurious as rust, yet it destroys every infested head of grain 
upon which it establishes itself, and is also thought to be poison- 
ous to people, or animals, that feed upon it. In Johnson's work 
on the grasses of Great Britain, he says " that diseased wheat 
examined by Sir K. Davy, when good, had an average of .955 
parts of nutritive matter to 1,000 : sometimes from disease, or 
smut, rust, or mildew, it was reduced as low as .2 10 in 1,000." The 
consequence of using such diseased wheat for food would be a 
step towards starvation, even though no greater evil resulted. 
It is, however, well known to be highly prejudicial to health ; 
and the higher standard of living among the poorer classes of 
our population, compared with those of some continental coun- 
tries, is the only cause of their exemption from the dreadful 
diseases resulting from the use of bad grain. That such dis- 
eases might occasionally prevail among them here, from similar 



55 

causes, under a more restricted diet, is evident from a record in 
the Philosophical Tratisactions ior iho. year 1762. The case in 
question occurred in the village of Wallisham, about fifteen or 
sixteen miles from Bury, St. Edmond's, Suffolk, and the report 
of it was forwarded to the Royal Society by Dr. Wollaston, 
attested by the Rev. Mr. Bone, the curate of the parish, and is 
abridged as follows : — Some of the wheat belonging to a farmer 
in the neighborhood, being laid or beaten down by bad weather, 
and diseased, the grain much damaged in consequence, it was 
collected and threshed apart from the remainder. Being unfit 
for the market, it was sold at a low price to any of the farm la- 
borers, and other people of the village, who would purchase. 
The sale of this wheat commenced about Christmas, and to one 
poor family, whose chief and possibly sole support it was for 
some time, the result was most alarming and unparalleled. It 
appears that the consumption of this poor wheat by the father, 
mother, and five children, was about two bushels in a fortnight ; 
the same being eaten in the form of bread and puddings, both 
of them very indifferent in quality. 

But to poverty, cheapness and sufficiency of food are always 
irresistible inducements, and this unwholesome fare was con- 
tinued without intermission until the mother and her children 
were attacked within a few days of each other with a gangre- 
nous disease. The first indication of the disease was intense 
pains in the lower limbs. It first occurred on the tenth of Jan- 
uary, and was thought to be rheumatism, but when this pain sub- 
sided it was followed by numbness and insensibility of the parts 
which terminated in mortification. The condition of the family 
at the time Dr. Wollaston made his report to the society is here 
subjoined : — 

" Mary, the mother, aged forty. Right foot off at ankle ; left 
leg mortified, a mere bone but not off. 

" Elizabeth, aged thirteen. Both legs off below the knee. 

" Sarah, aged ten years. One foot off at ankle. 

" Robert, aged eight. Both legs off below the knee. 

" Edward, aged four. Both feet off at ankles. 

" An infant, aged four months. Dead." 

The father was not attacked until about a fortnight after his 



56 

wife and children, and in a slighter degree. In his case the 
pain was confined to two fingers of his right hand, which turned 
blackish and withered. Another laboring man in the same par- 
ish, who had eaten of this bread, suffered from numbness in 
both his hands for upwards of a month. They were constantly 
cold, and his finger-ends peeled ; one thumb he says remains 
without any sensation. 

In several instances where bread made from the same wheat 
was eaten in the farmer's own family, as well as by other per- 
sons, no prejudicial effects were noticed, probably in conse- 
quence of such bread being used only occasionally, and as an 
adjunct to other and more wholesome food. The nature of the 
disease with which the wheat was affected does not appear to 
have been fully ascertained, but the circumstances are well au- 
thenticated. It is of course possible that the want of proper 
nourishment in the wheat may have had a share to do with the 
disease ; but smutty and mildewed grain has always been con- 
sidered unhealthy to man, and many cases of disease in animals 
have often been traced to this cause. 

With such examples before us, too great caution cannot be 
used regarding the use of grain and flour of suspicious character. 

These fungi, like many of the others that infest our fields and 
gardens, belong to the family in which the spores are the dis- 
tinctive feature, and is regarded as fixed in the genus Ustilago 
(or smut of grain), and the specific name segetum (standing). So 
we have the name Ustilago segetum^ or the smut of standing grain. 

Another kind of smut known in this country is Ustilago mag- 
dis (the maize smut). It is even more common than the other, 
as no corn-field is without more or less of it. It forms a peculiar 
thickened and abnormal growth, that is full of the characteristic 
black spores represented as magnified four hundred diameters in 
Fig. 31. 

The spores in this fungus are very numerous, 
simple, deeply serrated, springing from delicate 
threads or in closely-packed cells, ultimately 
breaking up into a powdery mass. A species of 
this smut affects some grasses slightly in this 
TigT^^^ country, but in France it frequently affects grass 




57 

to such an extent as to produce disastrous consequences on the 
hay-makers, such as violent swellings of the head and face, with 
poisonous irritation over the whole system. Threshers are some- 
times thus affected in this country, when at work on smutty oats, 
although not all are equally affected. 

The spores of this species are so immense in number, that it 
would seem impossible to guard corn or other grain against its rav- 
ages, but it seems like others of this class — they are quite easily 
destroyed, and in that way are kept in check. They adhere to 
the grain in threshing, but if the grain is washed with clean 
water, and then with a solution of Glauber's salts, and while 
still moist dusted with quicklime, these spores will be destroyed, 
and the rust spores also, and the crop will be improved, as the 
caustic soda is set free by the sulphuric acid of the salts com- 
bining with the lime, and converting it into sulphate of lime 
(plaster of Paris) which is beneficial to the young sprout, while 
the caustic soda is fatal to the spores of rust and smut. 

Other washes, as of chloride of lime, at the rate of one ounce 
to the gallon of water, or of aqua ammonia in same proportions, 
are probably also beneficial to kill the spores, and aid germination 
of the grain. Experience has also taught us that a wet season is 
much more prolific of fungi than a dry one ; and thick-sown 
grain than thin-sown. 

The direction of the wind when grain is sown is of no effect, 
notwithstanding old people, many of them, think that an east 
wind is deleterious. 

THE ONION SMUT. 

This fungus, called by Prof. C. C. Frost, of Brattleborough, Vt., 
Urocystis Cepuloe, since its first appearance in New England in 
1870 has caused much damage to that crop. It is thought to be 
allied to the rust on Indian corn, but not exactly the same. The 
damage caused to single towns in Massachusetts from this smut 
alone is estimated at several thousands of dollars. There is as 
yet very little known about the development of this fungus. It 
has never been known in Europe, and is supposed to originate 
from some of our wild species of onions, and of course is as yet 



58 

but imperfectly known here. It changes the onion to the pecu- 
liar dark sooty powder so well known as smut, and the infected 
onions at once cease to grow ; and though the black may often 
be peeled off apparently with one or two of the layers of the 
onion, they are not considered healthy, and great loss is en- 
tailed to those raising them. As the spores doubtless remain in 
the ground, and nothing put on the ground would be likely to 
eradicate them, the only known help is to change the locality, 
giving the onions ground on which they have not been previously 
raised, and using the onion-bed for other purposes, or for such 
crops as the spores would not injure. 

After a time, perhaps four or five years, the old beds might 
probably be again planted, as doubtless the spores would have 
lost their vitality. 

As this smut at the present time is principally confined to 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, with a little care on our part, it 
will be a long time before New Hampshire will materially suffer 
from this fungi. 

Should it appear among us, it should be at once stamped out 
by burning over the land, and not trying to raise onions on it 
for at least four years, as a trial would not only be useless but 
would endanger whole townships by the increase of the spores. 

It should as much be the law to stamp out by legal proceed- 
ings such pests, as to keep small-pox out of our towns, as the 
diseases resulting to the human family are none the less to be 
dreaded because slow and insidious in their workings. 

Those who desire to know more of this disease we will refer 
to the Massachusetts Agricultural Report for 1876-77, where it 
is fully described. 

WHITE RUST. 

The idea we have thus far of rust and smut is, that it is dark 
colored, or like the rust of iron ; but as I speak of white rust 
that opinion must be overthrown, as the white rust of the cab- 
bage, turnip, and all similar plants is one that the gardener has 
often to contend with. I bring it in to show that fungi must be 
looked for in every place and under all colors. This white rust 



69 




is called Cystopus candidus. It 
is represented in Fig. 32 as it 
occurs on shepherd's-purse, a 
showing the fruit with the rust 
upon it ; b, portions of the cab- 
bage-leaf with the same species 
upon it ; and c, conidia of the 
same. (See Cooke's treatise on 
fungi.) 

Upon the leaf of the cabbage 
it appears as engraved, in white 
patches ; the leaves become de- 
formed and swollen or blistered, 
even before we can make out 
fully the cause of the mischief 
outside. These blistered pus- 
tules have a minute system of '^' ^^' 
branching threads, which traverse the pulpy parts of the leaves, 
and which threads, insinuating themselves between the cells that 
constitute the pulp, take their nutriment at the expense of the 
growing foliage. 

It is after the pustules assume the white color and are visible 
on the skin or cuticle that the reproductive parts termed conidia 
can be detected. (See Fig. 32.) From the multitudes of these 
beads or spores forming the white powdery dust, the term coni- 
dia is applied, which means dust-like. Other plants, besides, 
are often affected, as the water-cress, pepper-grass, radish, and 
even the weed purslane does not escape its ravages. Its mode 
of vegetation is one of peculiar interest, in fine one of the most 
curious phenomena of plant life, and indicates in this low order 
of vegetation a relation to higher structural forms, not only in 
plants but even in animals. Thus, if a few particles of the white 
dust be immersed in a drop of water, and examined under the 
microscope, they will be seen to rapidly absorb water, and swell- 
ing, a large and obtuse papilla resembling the neck of a bottle 
is produced, and a seeming empty space is formed in the con- 
tents of each spore. As these disappear, the whole granular 
substance becomes separated by fine lines into five to eight por- 



60 

tions each, with a small, faintly colored, empty space in the 
center. These portions are so many zoospores. These are soon 
expelled one by one, and soon afterwards begin to move, being 
provided with seeming fins or fringes by which they are enabled 
to swim about like an animalcule ; but they are only buds en- 
dowed with motion, same as many other plants have. These of 
course are capable of infecting plants, as we have seen. 

The prodigal provision of nature is here, as everywhere, espe- 
cially in its lower orders, signally manifested, when we are told 
that the immense number of zoospores capable of being pro- 
duced from a single infected plant is almost beyond calculation. 

It is easy for a million of conidia to be developed from one 
such plant, each producing five to eight zoospores. It can 
scarcely be considered marvelous that the white rust should be 
so common on plants favorable to its development, the marvel 
being rather that any escape. 

THE POTATO DISEASE. 

Mold is a word in common use, and all will tell you what 
mold is, yet each will perhaps tell you of a different kind. This 
very numerous family are called Hyphomycetes ; that is, fungi that 
grow by throwing out delicate threads. 

Of course there are several distinct groups. 

To the common eye, unaided by the microscope or observa- 
tion, mildews, moldiness, and similar microscopic plants would 
be readily confounded. But the mildew is a much more highly 
developed fungus, and though apparently as dangerous, is not 
so to the same extent. The egg-mold {Oidium), which covers 
and suffocates the young gooseberry, or the grape, readily yields 
to agents which will destroy it, and set free from its threads the 
swelling fruit ; but the potato-mold, for instance, is the inception 
of the potato-rot, which is so dreaded. The " molds," then, as 
Russell says, "are fearful parasitic plants, which riot on the 
tender tissues of other plants and eventually cause their death." 
There are in this country as many as ten known fungi infesting 
the potato. It is on this account that those attempting to 
describe the potato disease have differed so widely from each 



61 

other, while all have brought up some facts. The true potato- 
mold, causing so much mischief, is now generally admitted to 
be the Peronospora infestans, and were it not for its effects it 
would be regarded as a thing of beauty. Were the flies or 
insects, which are so liberally endowed with eyes, and quite 
unconcerned about crops, — to investigate, the leaves of the 
potato would be quite a pretty set of objects to examine, 
presenting white, many branched, and beaded twigged plants, 
with egg-shaped seed bodies on the tips of the branches. These 
vegetable growths issue from the stomata (breathing-pores) of 
the leaves, choke up the internal and external passages, and 
prevent a healthy action from being maintained. Soon the 
leaves become paler, or yellow, then discolored spots appear, 
and the stems are covered with dark patches ; even the stalks 
become filled with clotted substances, and sooner or later 
putrefy, and lastly the tuber suffers, and the rot rapidly increases. 

It was towards the close of the summer of 1845 that the world 
awakened to what they supposed a new disease in the potato 
crop ; and one which threatened its entire destruction. Early 
in September its ravages in Ireland threatened starvation to the 
people. It extended to Scotland, England, and the continent, 
and rewards were offered for detection of the cause ; and a host 
of observations were made with no valuable results. 

It is only by long years of patient study that nature's works 
are found out, and it will be longer still before any sure pre- 
ventive will be reached. There are, however, some things 
that tempt this fungous growth that is so destructive ; as close 
planting, damp land, weeds that shade the crop, etc. 

As there are some differences of opinion in relation to the 
actual condition of the potato, favorable or otherwise, to the 
rot, I copy from the observations of others. 

" Some eminent chemists, such as Dr. Lyon Playfair, believe 
that the potato-plant when healthy, is not subject to attacks 
from fungi. In a lecture delivered by the doctor before the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, December 9, 1845, he 
remarked that ' much had been said and written with regard to 
the source of the disease, and since minute fungi had been 
assigned as its cause, potatoes, apples, and other fruits had been 



62 

inoculated with fungous spores, and had become diseased ; but if 
there was not some previous disease in the potato itself, how 
was it that some varieties of potatoes escaped while growing in 
the immediate vicinity, while others were attacked ? ' " The 
disease, he believed, arose from structural or chemical causes. 

When a decayed potato was examined it was found that the 
diseased spots were always in the region of the spiral vessels 
whose function it is to carry air into the tissue of the plants. 
He believed the disease originated in the oxidation of the tissue. 
The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, the leading mycologist of England, on 
the other hand, contends that the fungus Botrytis iiifestans, or, 
as now classed under the new genus, Peronospora infestans, will 
attack the healthy tubers ; but the question arises just at this 
point, What means have we of ascertaining the perfectly healthy 
structure, and chemical state of tubers ? Every farmer plants 
what he deems sound tubers, yet in the majority of cases, since 
1845, the crop during very moist seasons has been more 
generally affected than it was prior to that date. 

The severity of attacks of fungi on plants will depend in some 
cases on the density of their organic structure and the solubility 
of their nitrogenous matter. The nitrogenous principle of 
potatoes,. for example, is soluble in water ; that of turnips nearly 
insoluble. The former, therefore, ferments more readily than 
the latter. The leaves of a healthy peach-tree, when placed in 
a moist atmosphere at about 75° Fahrenheit, resist fungoid fer- 
mentation for months, while those of a peach-tree affected with 
the " yellows," placed under the same general conditions, will 
quickly ferment and become covered with the fruit of the fungous 
mucor. The first possess an antiseptic property, the second are 
deficient in it. If two blocks of wood, one of boxwood and the 
other of soft pine, are placed in a fungoid solution, the first will 
resist the action of the mycelium for a long time because of its 
density, while the second will quickly decay. The first absorbs 
very little water, the second a great deal. A certain amount of 
moisture is always necessary to the growth of fungi. The 
presence of an excess of water is highly favorable to the growth 
of the common molds and some other forms of fungoid plants. 

In years previous to the noted potato-rot of 1845, the average 



63 

amount of water found in healthy potatoes, according to Professor 
Playfair, was 72 per cent; that of unhealthy tubers since that 
date, 80 per cent. The tendency to ferment is therefore in- 
creased. It was observed by Professor Playfair, in his lecture 
alluded to, that a peculiar state of the weather had been 
observed all over the north of Europe where the disease had 
been seen, as well as in America. The wide-spread use of the 
potato as an article of diet, especially among the laboring 
classes throughout Europe, must have led to the extensive 
planting of diseased potatoes in 1846, because healthy seed could 
not be found. Indeed, Professor Playfair, in his second lecture 
of the loth of December, 1845, recommends "the planting of 
diseased potatoes as seed rather than none." He further states 
that there was no prospect of obtaining healthy seed from 
abroad, and that he had permission of the late government 
authorities for stating that this was the result of their consular 
returns. The unavoidable adoption of this advice tended to 
establish hereditary disease in after years, whether it arose from 
chemical, structural, or fungoid conditions. 

If a healthy potato is so dug out on its opposite ends that it 
will resemble a double egg-cup, and placed erect on one end for 
about six days in an atmosphere at the temperature of 70° Fahren- 
heit, its under cavity will become covered with mildew, and its fruit 
will appear in the form of blue mold, Penicillium glaucum. In 
this case the inverted cavity will retain the moisture, and as a 
consequence slight fermentation will ensue, the fungus deriving 
its nutriment from the potato ; but the upper surface, although 
fully exposed to the floating germs in the atmosphere, will not 
sustain a fungous growth, in consequence of the free evaporation 
of the moisture from it. This form of fermentation should not 
be confounded with that produced by the fungus of potato-rot, 
Peronospora infestans. The chemical action of the blue-mold 
fungus is slow, and its odor is simply that of sour paste, while 
the destructive action of the potato-rot is very rapid, producing 
a higher state of decomposition and very offensive odors. The 
mycelium and fruit of each fungus also differ essentially from 
each other. Both forms of fungus produce oxidation of the cel- 
lulose structure, but with very different results. Consequently 



64 

potato-rot consists of more than the " mere decay of the tissue 
by its absorption of oxygen.'' The purely fungoid theory, on 
the other hand, will not account for the many exceptions pointed 
out by those who favor the chemical theory ; since it may be 
shown that as the chemical constitution and density of any veg- 
etables vary, so will the genus and species of fungi be found to 
vary with the proximate principles of the plants on which they 
subsist. 

If there is truth in these remarks, the value of sound, hearty 
seed is one great preventive. Farmers should therefore exer- 
cise great care in their selection, and never plant a diseased tu- 
ber. Yet to my mind the fungus is the chief mischief, and so 
plenty of room, good care, and, I might add, early planting, 
should go hand in hand with the selection of seed. Russell 
says entire destruction by fire of all diseased tops should be 
imperative. 

THE BRISTLE MOLD. 

One more species of mold, known as the "buttercup-blight," 
is so common and so peculiar in its growth, that I can not pass 
it by. 

It is represented in Fig. ;^^. Its 
varieties are all known as bristle 
mold, and attack damp paper or 
books ; damp specimens in the col- 
lections of our botanists are fre- 
quently nearly ruined, and like 
other fungi they are dreaded pests. 

RAPID GROWTH OF FUNGI : YEAST- 
PLANT. 

Fig. 33- 
a, conceptacle of ErisyM'^c.^nnunis; YeaSt is a well-knOWn SUbstanCC 

^.jporangium of the same highly magm- ^^ ^j| housekeepers, but all do nOt 

know that it is a plant that thrives on sugar or nitrogenous mat- 
ter. When the plant is examined under the microscope it is 
found to be composed of myriads of minute cells, about one 
twenty-four-hundredths of an inch^iin diameter. During the 
progress of fermentation these cells'^rapidlyjncrease in number, 




65 

until all the material necessary to their growth is used up. Its 
rapid growth, and the evolution of carbonic acid gas from such 
growth, makes it convenient for the housewife to raise her bread. 
She prepares her material, puts in her seed, which is some of the 
spores of the plant either dry or in fluid, and they immediately 
commence their growth. 

The cells grow together in chains, and when stirred they some- 
times appear like threads, which are in reality bundles of the 
fibers of the yeast-plant. 

If the yeast is not used in this condition, the plant nourish- 
ment is soon used up, putrefaction commences, and with it comes 
a swarm of animalcules, countless as they are minute, and vo- 
raciously devouring all in their way, until they also die from 
want of food, changing the yeast frequently to a mass of animal 
and vegetable putrefaction. This soon subsides, and vinegar 
is the result. 

This can be more fully exemplified by milk-yeast, which 
sooner, as every housewife knows, passes through its various 
stages, and sometimes is not baked until the putrescence is such 
as to be hardly endurable to many persons. 

With this example of fungous growth before their eyes, who 
can wonder that the various fungi in the State of New Hampshire 
alone cost the agriculturist many millions of dollars. They blight 
his fruit-trees from the seed ; they blight his grain crop more or 
less every year ; they blight his fruit from the blossom to its 
end, pursuing it with a determined hate ; they mildew his beans 
and peas ; they impair his corn and potatoes ; they poison his 
hay, and disease his cattle ; they destroy his loved ones, often 
with insidious disease, and then rot out his store-houses, his 
dwelling, and even fastening upon himself, claim him at last as 
fit ground on which to ripen their spores for deadly work on 
others. No pest is so deadly, none so insidious in its workings, 
none so varied, meeting us everywhere and under almost all con- 
ditions. Insignificant in themselves, their very obscurity gives 
them the best chances to do us injury. 

They have their enemies, — countless animalcules feed upon 
their various forms, yet no family is rendered extinct. The very 
atmosphere we breathe is often hazy with the spores of various 

5 



66 

fungi. The only wonder is, why anything, or any condition 
of plant or atmosphere, can hold the various families of fungi in 
check. Some suppose them of spontaneous growth. Why is 
there need of such a supposition, when their minute spores ca- 
pable of producing their like cannot even be excluded wherever 
the atmosphere is present ? The wonder is quite the other way, 
for it is a wonder that they don't destroy more than they do. 



ANIMALCULES. 



It is but a step from the microscopic plant to the animal. 
The variety of form peculiar to microscopic life is truly wonder- 
ful. It is so different from what we have been accustomed to 
meet in our visible world that we are at once struck with its pe- 
culiar varieties. The number of these creatures exceeds all 
human calculation. In every pond and ditch, and almost every 
puddle, in vegetable infusions, in paste and vinegar, on honey, 
sugar, and all sweet substances, on almost every leaf and flower, 
even on those fungi only visible through the microscope, and in 
rivers, seas, and oceans, these creatures are found in such num- 
bers and varieties as to almost exceed belief. 

" The shapely limb and lubricated joint, 
Within the small dimensions of a point, 
Muscle and nerve, miraculously span 
His mighty work, who speaks, and it is done, 
The invisible in things scarce seen revealed 
To whom an atom is an ample field." 

Of these wonderful creations, I will only bring forward a few 
examples. 

THE MITE FAMILY. 

Comparatively few naturalists have studied up the habits and 
peculiarities of the mite family. But few of our readers in nat- 
ural history text-books learn from their pages anything definite 
in relation to them, either regarding the affinities of these hum- 
ble creatures, their organization, or frequently singular meta- 



67 




Fig. 34- 
Young Ixades A Ibipictus. 



morphoses. We shall, therefore^ only mention a few typical 
forms which we have had the pleasure of examining. 

Mites are lowly-organized Arachneds. This order is divided 
into four families ; viz., the scorpions, spiders, harvestmen, and 
mites ; the scientific name of 
which is Acarma. They have a 
rounded oval body, without the 
usual division between the head 
and abdomen observable in spi- 
ders ; the head, thorax, and ab- 
domen being merged in a single 
mass. When mature, there are 
four pairs of legs, and the mouth 
part consists, as seen in the ad- 
joining figure of a young tick, 
of a pair of maxillge ic), which, 
in the adult, terminate in two 
or three jointed feelers ; a pair 

of mandibles (^), often covered with several rows of fine teeth, 
and ending in three or four larger hooks, and a serrated labium 
{a). These parts form a beak, which the mite can insinuate 
into the flesh of its host, upon the blood of which many species 
subsist. 

While very many of the mites are parasitic on animals, some 
devour eggs of insects. The Notherus (Fig. 35) destroys mil- 
lions of the eggs of the canker-worm, and it is said that it also 
sucks the eggs of the chinch-bug. 

A few of this species are injurious to 
man, as the Sarcoptes, that burrows under 
the skin of filthy people, causing a disease 
once so common, — the itch. The cheese- 
mites, that swarm over the cheeses in our 
cities, and sometimes in the country, have 
six legs when young, but eight after a molt. 
I have scraped a full pint of them off a sin- 
gle cheese in Boston, and, putting my hand 
into the mass, I could distinctly feel the an- 
imal heat produced by aggregate millions of living, burning fur- 
naces, the same as from higher organizations. 




Fig. 35- 



68 

The harvestmen, known in this section as " daddy-long- 
legs," almost always have numerous parasites belonging to the 
mite family. They also live parasitic on various water insects, 
and on the gills of the fresh-water mussel. 

These species are very minute in size. Some species have 
been found in the lungs and blood vessels of various animals. 

THE SUGAR MITE. 

Many people have been startled by statements sometimes 
read, or that they have heard from authoritative sources, as to 
the immense number of mites {Acarus Sacchari, Fig. 36,) found 
in unrefined or raw sugar, but those state- 
ments generally fall below rather than above 
the truth. 

Dr. Hassel, who first discovered them, 
found them upon sixty-nine out of seventy- 
two samples, and found sixty or seventy 
, mites to one grain of sugar, in most of the 
samples. Mr, Cameron counted five hun- 
dred on ten grains, which would be one 
hundred thousand to the pound. This 
^'^■^^' would really be quite an adulteration, but, 

under favorable circumstances, that is, with warmth and moist- 
ure, I have seen one-half the bulk, at least, animal life. This 
would, however, only be the case upon small lots of sugar. 
When in barrels, their number is frequently immense, but they 
are much more plentiful at the top of the barrel, or nearest the 
light, though light is in no way necessary to their production. 

The disease known as "grocer's itch," is undoubtedly due to 
the presence of this mite, which may now and then work its 
way under the skin of the hand. 

Plentiful as these mites are on the damp brown sugars, I have 
never detected them on dry white sugar, though I almost always 
find them on figs, dates, honey, if grained, and often on the 
comb when not ; in fine, they may be found on all sweet sub- 
stances that are sufficiently exposed. 

They are a jolly, playful race of beings, and seem to live and 
eat for enjoyment ; when frightened they play dead, curling up 
their legs, and remaining inactive for some time. 





69 

Another singular mite, and of the lowest order, burrows in the 
skin of dogs, and also in the diseased follicles of the human 
face, and more especially the nose of 
man. (See Fig. 37.) It is a long, slen-^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
der, wormlike form, with eight short Fig. 37. 

legs, though like many other mites it has but six in the larval 
state. Washing the face in water to which has been added one 
teaspoonful of strong aqua ammonia to the quart, will usually 
remove them. ■ 



WATER ANIMALCULES. 

Perhaps no class of objects that are visible to us only through 
the microscope engage our attention so often, or amaze us so 
much, as the various forms and peculiar habits of the water 
animalcules. 

For the first time it is an amazing spectacle to view an as- 
semblage of dissimilar forms in a drop of stagnant water. 
They are from one thousandth to one ten-thousandth of an inch 
in diameter, and I once saw them so crowded that the spaces 
between them were not much larger. Several hundred forms 
have been studied and described, but I shall only mention three 
or four of the more common species. Remember, while pond or 
river water will contain now and then specimens, that it is stag- 
nant water alone that is crowded, and the pure spring-water of 
New Hampshire never contains any animal life. 

The motions of these creatures are varied, I might say almost 
endless, in variety ; but amid their diversified gambols all have 
the power of avoiding obstacles in their course, and their neigh- 
bors, which are in such close proximity to them. Some species 
are far more common than others, but the more uncommon vari- 
eties may frequently be obtained in midsummer, by exposing a 
decoction of any dried leaves to the sun for three or four days ; 
such exposure must be in the open air. A few species I will 
describe. 

The Rotifer^ or wheel-bearing animalcules, are so termed from 
the appearance of certain wheels, often seen rapidly rotating in 
various situations on the anterior part of the body near the 



70 

mouth. We say wheels, because they were so considered by 
early microscopic observers who could not account for the motion 
in any other way ; but an improvement in instruments has 
shown that it is an incessant muscular action, giving an appa- 
rent rotation ; but that wheels could revolve in any part of an 
animate body, would be quite inconsistent with the laws of ani- 
mal organization. These wheel-shaped muscles are used to aid in 
the motion of the animalcule and in supplying its food. They 
are entirely subservient to the power of will, as they can stop 
the motion instantly or increase it as they choose. 

Their body, though so small, in one species, is shielded by a 
shell into which this rotating apparatus can be drawn at will. 
It is by the whirlpool, formed by the before-described rotations, 
that its food is drawn into its mouth as a vortex, where it is mas- 
ticated by three tiny teeth, and swallowed into a prepared 
receptacle where it is ground by muscles working vigorously on 
each other. Minute and curious as these organs are, the ani- 
malcule is so small that like all other microscopic creatures they 
are transparent, and with a moderately high magnifying power 
this car. as well be seen as the workings of a steam engine made 
of glass. 

This species enjoy sunshine, and on dark, cloudy days are 
only found at the bottom of the pond or ditch in which they 
reside. 

Again another of this same species, called Tardigrade^ have 
so great a tenacity for life that they may be put upon a 
glass slide and dried for days, yes, for months or years, and then 
at once resuscitated by a drop of water. Dr. Carpenter, one of 
the most renowned microscopists of Europe, states that their 
tenacity of life goes even further, as he has kept them in a 
vacuum for thirty days with sulphuric acid and chloride of cal- 
cium, thus causing them to suffer the most complete desiccation 
that the chemist can efifect, and yet they have not lost their 
capability of revivification. For this reason they have been 
styled the resurrectionists, and it seems for good cause. This 
wonderful power of resuscitation, and the fact that the rapidity 
of their reproduction, as estimated by Prof. Erenberg, being 
from the egg at the rate of seventeen millions per month, is cer- 



71 

tainly sufificient for their remarkable appearance in almost every 
situation, and under almost all circumstances. 

It has been supposed by some that they were the result of 
spontaneous production, but from what I have said you can see 
there is no necessity for such a conclusion. The many curiosi- 
ties connected with the life and introduction of the Rotifer, into 
almost all places, of course will excite the amateur in micro- 
scopical investigation to search for them. That he may not be 
disappointed, I will state that in the leaf-cells of the Spagnum, 
generally known as bog-moss, there is a very curious departure 
from the ordinary type of vegetable growth. Instead of the 
usual cell-tissue their leaves contain spiral fiber, loosely coiled 
in their interior, and in the membranous covering of the stem 
there are nicely rounded holes, or apertures, by w^hich there is 
free communication with the interior, as well as with each other. 
These natural caverns are appropriated by the Rotifer, and used 
as dwellings. It is here you are sure to find them at home. 

Another species, called Aurelia, are covered with cilia, or mi- 
nute hairs around the mouth in a circle ; by their agitation ani- 
malcules much smaller are drawn into their mouths and de- 
voured. 

Again the Hydra, which may be found in ponds and rivulets 
adhering to the leaves of aquatic plants, or twigs and sticks that 
have fallen into the water, is a wonder among wonders. 

It may be subdivided many times and yet every part will in a 
few hours become a perfect Hydra. This name is given them 
because they have many long arms, which were supposed to re- 
semble the heads of the fifty-headed water-serpent, called Hy- 
dra, which fabulous history informs us was destroyed by Her- 
cules, in the lake of Lerna. They are by no means vegetarians, 
and have the capability of swallowing creatures as large as 
themselves. 

In the ordinary mode of multiplication little budlike protu- 
berances are developed on their external surface, which are soon 
observed to resemble the parent in character, possessing a di- 
gestive sack and mouth. 

For a time, however, this cavity is connected with that of the 
parent, but at last the communication is cut off, and the young 



72 

Hydra quits its attachment and goes in quest of its own main- 
tenance. 

A second generation of buds are, however, frequently seen on 
the young before quitting its parent, and I have counted as many 
as eighteen in different stages of development on one original 
stock. Again, in taking its food, it sometimes happens that the 
same morsel will be seized upon by two Hydrae, when a struggle 
for the prey ensues, in which the strongest gains the victory. 
Sometimes each will begin to swallow the same morsel, until the 
mouths of the pair come in actual contact, vi^hen, if the morsel 
does not break, the larger deliberately swallows his opponent, 
sometimes partially, so as to compel the discharge of the food 
by the smaller, but frequently the entire polyp is engulfed. But 
Hydra is no fit food for Hydra, and his capacity for endurance 
saves him from a living tomb, for after a time, when the food is 
sucked out of his mouth, the sufferer is disgorged with no other 
loss than his dinner. 

Yet perhaps the greatest curiosity is in the reproduction of its 
parts. Split one open, and the separate parts will soon take 
food, and in twenty-four hours are as perfect as ever. 

Strange as it may seem, all these processes can be watched 
with unerring certainty, and so interesting are the developments, 
that I always dislike to close the scene, though aching eyes will 
at length gain the mastery. 

TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 

As the Trichina Spiralis is an animalcule liable to infest man 
to his injury, and often a disease of swine, rendering the pork 
dangerous to the consumer, I have selected it as of peculiar 
interest. It is a small spiral worm, like a pin-worm, which has 
ever been found now and then in muscles of various animals. 
It is supposed by some to originate in the rat, and to have been 
from them spread over the country as they gained a foothold, 
as it is often found in their muscles, and frequently in those of 
cats that devour them. How it comes to infest pork is uncer-. 
tain, but probably by their food, as a hog is none loo particular 
upon what it feeds, and might eat portions of rats or any other 
dead animal. 



73 



The immature parasites, as seen in muscle under the micro- 
scope, are worms about one twenty-fifth of an inch in length, 
spirally coiled up within globular, oval, or lemon-shaped trans- 
parent cysts, which, according to the length of time they have 
been formed, are more or less covered with calcareous matter. 

From various experiments, I have been led to believe that 
after they are completely covered with this calcareous concre- 
tion, sealed as it were in a stone sarcophagus, that they are 
destroyed ; such flesh containing them will not contaminate 
other individuals, as I have fed young rats with it without effect, 
when they were always contaminated when fed with diseased 
meat in which the cysts were not calcareous, though the cysts 
themselves are to be considered rather as abnormalities, de- 
veloped some little time after the larvae have reached their 
destination, as hundreds of specimens have been seen to co-exist 
entirely free from cysts. 

Fig. 38 shows the Trichina when thus in- 
cysted in the muscles (magnified). 

The number found in any one subject varies, 
but Leuckart estimated that one ounce of cat- 
flesh which he observed must have harbored 
more than 300,000 parasites. Even if we as- 
sume that the forty-five pounds of muscle 
which an ordinarily healthy man possesses 
were infested with only 50,000 Trichinae to the 
ounce, they would still contain more than 
thirty millions. Fig 38. 

The adult Trichina magnified is shown in 

TFig. 39- 

The sexually mature male Trichina, accord- 
ing to Cobbold, is about one-eighteenth of an 
inch long, while the adult female is one-eighth ; 
the body is rounded and slender, and the head 
very narrow and sharply pointed. The mode 
of reproduction is viviparous. The muscular 
parasite, when introduced into the alimentary 
canal of man or animal, is set free in the 
process of digestion, and in two days' time reaches the adult 





Fig. 39- 



74 

condition. Leuckart states that in six days more the female 
brings forth a numerous brood of minute, hairlike larvae ; these 
soon begin their wanderings by piercing the intestinal walls, 
after which they proceed through the system till they reach the 
muscles, into which they penetrate ; here they develop so that 
in two weeks more, that is, in about three weeks from the time 
the infested food was taken, they present the appearance of the 
ordinary muscular Trichina Spiralis, as shown in Fig. 38. 

The sexually mature worms probably produce more than one 
brood of young ; they have been found alive in the intestines 
eight weeks after the infection of the flesh in which they were 
contained. The larvae remain in the muscles they have reached, 
and shortly become incysted as heretofore mentioned. Smoking 
the meat does not kill the parasites it contains ; brine, if very 
strong and long applied, probably does ; thorough cooking 
certainly does. Time also has its effect on them, though they 
are endowed with wonderful vitality. In some healthy subjects 
who died from accident, the larvae and their inclosing cysts have 
been found to have undergone calcareous degeneration \ but it is 
probably months, and even years, before death of the parasite 
occurs ; in illustration of which, Virchow states that in one case 
he found them alive eight, and in another thirteen and a half, 
years after infection. 

When a person is infected, which infection usually takes place 
from eating partially cooked sausages or raw bacon, in three or 
four days there is lassitude, depression, sleeplessness, loss of 
appetite, and fever. Then there supervenes excessive pain in 
the muscles, especially of the limbs, contractions of the knee 
and elbow, swelling of the limbs with apparent pneumonia, and 
frequently mania with death. 

On post-mortem examinations, the muscles are found crowded 
with the parasites, and to be in a state of fatty degeneration. If 
they recover, after three or four weeks of the same symptoms, 
with less severity, convalescence commences, and in six or eight 
weeks more the patient is quite well, and the incysted Trichinae 
seem to give him no further trouble. The virulence of the at- 
tack seems to depend considerably on the number of parasites 
introduced into the patient's stomach, yet the previous constitu- 



75 

tion and strength of the patient have much to do with final 
recovery. 

The true safeguard is to eat no pork unless thoroughly cooked > 
yet microscopic examination will reveal the disease, even if ever 
so small a section of a muscle be examined, and it should be in- 
cumbent upon all butchers here as in Germany, to make such 
examination, and they should be punished here, as there, for 
selling Trichinous meat. 

For this time I will present no further microscopic wonders. 
What I have said is sufficient to show you, that around us all 
exist immense fields of study, easy of access, and yet pregnant 
with wonderful facts, with but few of which we are as yet con- 
versant. 

" Has any seen 
The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 
From infinite perfection to the brink 
Of dreary nothing ? " 

Until we have, let us be ever ready to grasp truth, wherever 
found, and lend idle hours to investigation. 



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